"bah humbug" meaning in All languages combined

See bah humbug on Wiktionary

Interjection [English]

IPA: /bɑː ˈhʌmbʌɡ/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˌbɑ ˈhʌmˌbʌɡ/ [General-American] Audio: en-au-bah humbug.ogg
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).
  1. (humorous) Expressing cynicism, disillusionment or distrustfulness; and specifically a dislike of Christmas and its celebrations and festivities. Tags: humorous Categories (topical): Christmas
    Sense id: en-bah_humbug-en-intj-18S7dXfF Disambiguation of Christmas: 87 13 Categories (other): English catchphrases, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English catchphrases: 58 42 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 59 41 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 73 27 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 67 33

Verb [English]

IPA: /bɑː ˈhʌmbʌɡ/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˌbɑ ˈhʌmˌbʌɡ/ [General-American] Audio: en-au-bah humbug.ogg Forms: bah humbugs [present, singular, third-person], bah humbugging [participle, present], bah humbugged [participle, past], bah humbugged [past]
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). Head templates: {{en-verb|++}} bah humbug (third-person singular simple present bah humbugs, present participle bah humbugging, simple past and past participle bah humbugged)
  1. To utter the words "bah humbug"; to dismiss with the words, or sentiment, of the interjection.
    Sense id: en-bah_humbug-en-verb-DCfL3s1R

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "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).",
  "hyphenation": [
    "bah"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "intj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "58 42",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English catchphrases",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "59 41",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "73 27",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "67 33",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "87 13",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Christmas",
          "orig": "en:Christmas",
          "parents": [
            "Christianity",
            "Holidays",
            "Abrahamism",
            "Observances",
            "Religion",
            "Calendar",
            "Culture",
            "Timekeeping",
            "Society",
            "Time",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1848 January 22, “Important Official Documents”, in The John-Donkey, volume I, number IV, New York, N.Y.: Published and supplied by George Dexter, Burgess, Stringer & Co., W. H. Graham, R. G. Berford & Co. [et al.], →OCLC, page 126, column 2:",
          "text": "Honor!—bah! humbug! Patriotism!—pshaw! / Are we to be bamboozled by such guys?",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1976, Susan George, “Food Aid? … Or Weapon?”, in How the Other Half Dies: The Real Reasons for World Hunger, Harmondsworth, London; New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books; reprinted Totowa, N.J.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1989, page 164",
          "text": "Only a modern Scrooge could say, \"Bah, Humbug,\" where helping people to get enough to eat is concerned. Well, we are not going to argue that food aid has never filled an empty stomach or saved a dying child—but we will contend, in the case of the United States at least, that it has done so only inadvertently."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, C. Matthew McMahon, Therese B. McMahon, “Scrooge Had It Right, but for the Wrong Reasons”, in Bah Humbug: How Christians Should Think about the Christmas Holiday, Coconut Creek, Fla.: Puritan Publications, →ISBN, pages 5–6:",
          "text": "[O]nce you understand why Bah Humbug is a good term, you will see that it is going to become packed with a biblical position that could warrant every Christian to mindfully say \"Bah Humbug\" about the Christmas Holiday, and know what it is they are meaning. Bah Humbug is going to work succinctly.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Expressing cynicism, disillusionment or distrustfulness; and specifically a dislike of Christmas and its celebrations and festivities."
      ],
      "id": "en-bah_humbug-en-intj-18S7dXfF",
      "links": [
        [
          "humorous",
          "humorous"
        ],
        [
          "cynicism",
          "cynicism#English"
        ],
        [
          "disillusionment",
          "disillusionment#English"
        ],
        [
          "distrustfulness",
          "distrustfulness#English"
        ],
        [
          "dislike",
          "dislike#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "Christmas",
          "Christmas#English"
        ],
        [
          "celebration",
          "celebration#English"
        ],
        [
          "festivities",
          "festivity#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(humorous) Expressing cynicism, disillusionment or distrustfulness; and specifically a dislike of Christmas and its celebrations and festivities."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "humorous"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/bɑː ˈhʌmbʌɡ/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌbɑ ˈhʌmˌbʌɡ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-bah humbug.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a8/En-au-bah_humbug.ogg/En-au-bah_humbug.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/En-au-bah_humbug.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "A Christmas Carol",
    "Chapman & Hall",
    "Charles Dickens",
    "Ebenezer Scrooge",
    "Jacob Marley"
  ],
  "word": "bah humbug"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "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).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "bah humbugs",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "bah humbugging",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "bah humbugged",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "bah humbugged",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "++"
      },
      "expansion": "bah humbug (third-person singular simple present bah humbugs, present participle bah humbugging, simple past and past participle bah humbugged)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "bah"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1961 December 20, The Christian Century, Chicago, page 1515, column 2:",
          "text": "This can be bah-humbugged or it can be accepted with a child’s quick joy. Who has the right to celebrate, to adore God for his sake, to muse around a manger, to light the candles and give the gifts and sing the songs?",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005, Paul Carter, Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, page 127:",
          "text": "Once my gear was packed I was eager to go, and get away from Sydney before Christmas found me bah-humbugging my way through a bottle of scotch.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To utter the words \"bah humbug\"; to dismiss with the words, or sentiment, of the interjection."
      ],
      "id": "en-bah_humbug-en-verb-DCfL3s1R",
      "links": [
        [
          "dismiss",
          "dismiss"
        ],
        [
          "words",
          "words"
        ],
        [
          "sentiment",
          "sentiment"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/bɑː ˈhʌmbʌɡ/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌbɑ ˈhʌmˌbʌɡ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-bah humbug.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a8/En-au-bah_humbug.ogg/En-au-bah_humbug.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/En-au-bah_humbug.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "A Christmas Carol",
    "Chapman & Hall",
    "Charles Dickens",
    "Ebenezer Scrooge",
    "Jacob Marley"
  ],
  "word": "bah humbug"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English catchphrases",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English interjections",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English terms derived from Dickensian works",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "en:Christmas"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "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).",
  "hyphenation": [
    "bah"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "intj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English humorous terms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1848 January 22, “Important Official Documents”, in The John-Donkey, volume I, number IV, New York, N.Y.: Published and supplied by George Dexter, Burgess, Stringer & Co., W. H. Graham, R. G. Berford & Co. [et al.], →OCLC, page 126, column 2:",
          "text": "Honor!—bah! humbug! Patriotism!—pshaw! / Are we to be bamboozled by such guys?",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1976, Susan George, “Food Aid? … Or Weapon?”, in How the Other Half Dies: The Real Reasons for World Hunger, Harmondsworth, London; New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books; reprinted Totowa, N.J.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1989, page 164",
          "text": "Only a modern Scrooge could say, \"Bah, Humbug,\" where helping people to get enough to eat is concerned. Well, we are not going to argue that food aid has never filled an empty stomach or saved a dying child—but we will contend, in the case of the United States at least, that it has done so only inadvertently."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, C. Matthew McMahon, Therese B. McMahon, “Scrooge Had It Right, but for the Wrong Reasons”, in Bah Humbug: How Christians Should Think about the Christmas Holiday, Coconut Creek, Fla.: Puritan Publications, →ISBN, pages 5–6:",
          "text": "[O]nce you understand why Bah Humbug is a good term, you will see that it is going to become packed with a biblical position that could warrant every Christian to mindfully say \"Bah Humbug\" about the Christmas Holiday, and know what it is they are meaning. Bah Humbug is going to work succinctly.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Expressing cynicism, disillusionment or distrustfulness; and specifically a dislike of Christmas and its celebrations and festivities."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "humorous",
          "humorous"
        ],
        [
          "cynicism",
          "cynicism#English"
        ],
        [
          "disillusionment",
          "disillusionment#English"
        ],
        [
          "distrustfulness",
          "distrustfulness#English"
        ],
        [
          "dislike",
          "dislike#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "Christmas",
          "Christmas#English"
        ],
        [
          "celebration",
          "celebration#English"
        ],
        [
          "festivities",
          "festivity#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(humorous) Expressing cynicism, disillusionment or distrustfulness; and specifically a dislike of Christmas and its celebrations and festivities."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "humorous"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/bɑː ˈhʌmbʌɡ/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌbɑ ˈhʌmˌbʌɡ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-bah humbug.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a8/En-au-bah_humbug.ogg/En-au-bah_humbug.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/En-au-bah_humbug.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "A Christmas Carol",
    "Chapman & Hall",
    "Charles Dickens",
    "Ebenezer Scrooge",
    "Jacob Marley"
  ],
  "word": "bah humbug"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English catchphrases",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English interjections",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English terms derived from Dickensian works",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "en:Christmas"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "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).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "bah humbugs",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "bah humbugging",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "bah humbugged",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "bah humbugged",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "++"
      },
      "expansion": "bah humbug (third-person singular simple present bah humbugs, present participle bah humbugging, simple past and past participle bah humbugged)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "bah"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1961 December 20, The Christian Century, Chicago, page 1515, column 2:",
          "text": "This can be bah-humbugged or it can be accepted with a child’s quick joy. Who has the right to celebrate, to adore God for his sake, to muse around a manger, to light the candles and give the gifts and sing the songs?",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005, Paul Carter, Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, page 127:",
          "text": "Once my gear was packed I was eager to go, and get away from Sydney before Christmas found me bah-humbugging my way through a bottle of scotch.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To utter the words \"bah humbug\"; to dismiss with the words, or sentiment, of the interjection."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "dismiss",
          "dismiss"
        ],
        [
          "words",
          "words"
        ],
        [
          "sentiment",
          "sentiment"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/bɑː ˈhʌmbʌɡ/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌbɑ ˈhʌmˌbʌɡ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-bah humbug.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a8/En-au-bah_humbug.ogg/En-au-bah_humbug.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/En-au-bah_humbug.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "A Christmas Carol",
    "Chapman & Hall",
    "Charles Dickens",
    "Ebenezer Scrooge",
    "Jacob Marley"
  ],
  "word": "bah humbug"
}

Download raw JSONL data for bah humbug meaning in All languages combined (5.8kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-23 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-20 using wiktextract (0c0c1f1 and 4230888). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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