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hogwash

[hawg-wosh, -wawsh, hog-]
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noun
  1. refuse given to hogs; swill.
  2. any worthless stuff.
  3. meaningless or insincere talk, writing, etc.; nonsense; bunk.
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Origin of hogwash

1400–50; 1900–05 for def 2; late Middle English. See hog, wash
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for hogwash

Historical Examples

  • Wot's the good of your ladlin' out that hogwash about huntin'?

    Snow-Bound at Eagle's

    Bret Harte

  • Hogwash was beaten and so were all the favourites, and an outsider had won.

    Uncle Joe's Stories

    Edward Hugessen Knatchbull-Hugesson, First Baron Brabourne

  • My friends, I have heard the vows which Paaker has poured out over our pure altars, like hogwash that men set before swine.

    Uarda, Complete

    Georg Ebers

British Dictionary definitions for hogwash

hogwash

noun
  1. informal nonsense
  2. pigswill
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for hogwash

n.

mid-15c., "slops fed to pigs," from hog (n.) + wash (n.). Extended to "cheap liquor" (1712) then to "inferior writing" (1773).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper