Meaning of balderdash | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Senseless talk or writing; nonsense.
   uncountable
2. A worthless mixture, especially of liquors.
   archaic, uncountable
3. Obscene language or writing.
   obsolete, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“Where, you cried in the name⟳ of Wonder⟳, have⟳ you been able to gather together such an old fashioned Bundlement of Scientific Balderdash?”

“[He] has the audacity to demand⟳ of us, for this twattle, a ‘speedy insertion and prompt pay⟳.’ We neither insert⟳ nor purchase⟳ any stuff of the sort⟳. There can be no doubt⟳, however, that he would meet⟳ with a ready sale for all the balderdash he can scribble, at the office of either the ‘Rowdy-Dow,’ the ‘Lollipop,’ or the ‘Goosetherumfoodle.’”

“Charles Gould assumed that if the appearance of listening to deplorable balderdash must form⟳ part of the price he had to pay⟳ for being left unmolested, the obligation of uttering balderdash personally was by no means included in the bargain.”

“A. Fink-Nottle: But it's absolute balderdash, Bertie. I mean⟳, listen⟳ to this: "Sure and begorrah, I don't know⟳ what's after being the matter⟳ with you, Michael." I mean⟳, what on earth is this "what's after being" stuff mean⟳? B.W. Wooster: My dear old Gussie, that is how people think⟳ Irish people talk⟳.”

“[T]hey would no more liue vnder the yoke of the Sea, or haue their heads waſht with his bubbly ſpume or Barbers balderdaſh, [...]”

“1637, John Taylor, Drinke and Welcome⟳, London: Anne Griffin, “Beere,” Indeede Beere, by a Mixture of Wine, it enjoyes approbation amongst some few (that hardly understand⟳ wherefore) but then it is no longer Beere, but hath lost both Name⟳ and Nature, and is called Balderdash (an Utopian denomination) …”

“1783, John O’Keeffe, The Agreeable Surprise⟳, Newry: R. Stevenson, Act I, Scene 1, pp. 6-7, … I took him to oblige a foolish old friend of mine, who intended him for Saint Omers; so I must keep⟳ him to draw⟳ good wine, and brew balderdash Latin.”

“Trugge, therefore, (who has a foul mouth of his own⟳, when he pleases) talked balderdash to Mrs. Sudberry, through the key-hole, which she did not answer⟳, for, indeed, she seems a civil spoken woman, truly [...]”

“With me your work⟳ will be easy and your life happy, with him you will be a drudge and the lacquey of a drudge [...]: from me you will hear⟳ none but pious and edifying conversation; from them nothing but balderdash and blasphemy in an outlandish dialect [...]”

CEFR level