English Explanatory Dictionary

bah humbug

English dictionary entry

Meanings

intj
  1. Expressing cynicism, disillusionment or distrustfulness; and specifically a dislike of Christmas and its celebrations and festivities.
verb
  1. To utter the words "bah humbug"; to dismiss with the words, or sentiment, of the interjection.

Pronunciation

/bɑː ˈhʌmbʌɡ/ /ˌbɑ ˈhʌmˌbʌɡ/ en-au-bah humbug.ogg

Word forms

bah humbug bah humbugs bah humbugging bah humbugged

Etymology

From bah (interjection expressing contempt, disgust, or bad temper) + humbug (“balderdash!, nonsense!, rubbish!”). The words were originally spoken by the miser Ebenezer Scrooge in the novella A Christmas Carol (1843) by English author Charles Dickens (1812–1870).

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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