BUNKUM - 8 definitions found
bunkum n 1: unacceptable behavior (especially ludicrously false statements) [syn: bunk, bunkum, buncombe, guff, rot, hogwash] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition (2003) bunkum or buncombe noun Etymology: Buncombe county, N.C.; from a remark made by its congressman, who defended an irrelevant speech by claiming that he was speaking to Buncombe Date: 1845 insincere or foolish talk ; nonsense Oxford English Reference Dictionary
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner\'s English Dictionary bunkum If you say that something that has been said or written is bunkum, you mean that you think it is completely untrue or very stupid. (INFORMAL, OLD-FASHIONED) = balderdash N-UNCOUNT [disapproval] English Explanatory Dictionary bunkum ˈbʌŋkəm n. (also buncombe) nonsense; humbug. [orig. buncombe f. Buncombe County in N. Carolina, mentioned in a nonsense speech by its Congressman, c.1820] Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Buncombe \Bun"combe\, Bunkum \Bun"kum\, n. [Buncombe a county of North Carolina.] Speech-making for the gratification of constituents, or to gain public applause; flattering talk for a selfish purpose; anything said for mere show. [Cant or Slang, U.S.] All that flourish about right of search was bunkum -- all that brag about hanging your Canada sheriff was bunkum . . . slavery speeches are all bunkum. --Haliburton. To speak for Buncombe, to speak for mere show, or popularly. Note: ``The phrase originated near the close of the debate on the famous `Missouri Question,' in the 16th Congress. It was then used by Felix Walker -- a na["i]ve old mountaineer, who resided at Waynesville, in Haywood, the most western country of North Carolina, near the border of the adjacent county of Buncombe, which formed part of his district. The old man rose to speak, while the house was impatiently calling for the `Question,' and several members gathered round him, begging him to desist. He preserved, however, for a while, declaring that the people of his district expected it, and that he was bound to `make a speech for Buncombe.''' --W. Darlington. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Bunkum \Bun"kum\, n. See Buncombe. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 95 Moby Thesaurus words for "bunkum": Grade A, Washingtonese, adulation, applesauce, balderdash, balls, baloney, bang-up, big talk, bilge, blague, blah, blah-blah, blandishment, blarney, blue-ribbon, bop, bosh, boss, bull, bullshit, bunk, cajolement, cajolery, champion, claptrap, compliment, crap, eyewash, fair words, fancy talk, fawning, federalese, fine talk, first-string, fish story, fit, flam, flapdoodle, flattery, flimflam, gammon, gas, gobbledygook, grease, guff, gup, hale, highfalutin, highfaluting, hogwash, hoke, hokum, honeyed phrases, honeyed words, hooey, hot air, humbug, humbuggery, incense, jiggery-pokery, malarkey, moonshine, official jargon, officialese, oil, palaver, piffle, political doubletalk, poppycock, praise, pretty lies, pussyfooting, right, rot, sane, scat, shit, soap, soft soap, sound, sweet nothings, sweet talk, sweet words, sycophancy, tall story, tall talk, tommyrot, top, top-notch, tripe, well, wheedling, wholesome, wind |
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