Definition of "humbug" []

• Something intended to deceive; a hoax or fraud. (noun)
• A person who claims to be other than what he or she is; an impostor. (noun)
• Nonsense; rubbish. (noun)
• Pretense; deception. (noun)
• Used to express disbelief or disgust. (interjection)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In her severe cross-examination, the counsel (a very plain, if not an ugly person) observed she had frequently used the term humbug, and desired to know what she meant by it, and to {65} have an explanation; to which she replied,"
• "Mrs Harold Smith had commenced with a mind fixed upon avoiding what she called humbug; but this sort of humbug had become so prominent"
• "Mrs. Harold Smith had commenced with a mind fixed upon avoiding what she called humbug; but this sort of humbug had become so prominent a part of her usual rhetoric, that she found it very hard to abandon it."