"codswallop" meaning in English

See codswallop in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Interjection

IPA: /ˌkɒdzˈwɒl.əp/ [Received-Pronunciation] Audio: En-au-codswallop.ogg [Australia]
Rhymes: -ɒləp Etymology: Unknown, attested from 1959 episode of UK TV series Hancock's Half Hour. The writers (Galton and Simpson) state that the phrase was in general use when the show was broadcast. A national TV appeal in the UK in 2006 failed to find earlier references, though a humorous newspaper column from 1947 does use the fictional name "Sir Aubrey Codswallop". Originally written (1963) codswallop, spelling cod's wallop is later. Various etymologies are proposed from some sense of cod, such as from cod (“joke, imitation”) + -s- + wallop (“beer (slang)”), hence cod + wallop “imitation beer” (with interconsonantal -s- to ease pronunciation of -dw-), or from cod (“scrotum, as in codpiece”) + -s- + wallop (“to hit”), hence cod + wallop “testicle bag” or "tbag" or "hit with testicle bag," or from cod (“fish”) (some part of the fish, as from fishing industry). A frequently given etymology, although widely rejected as a folk etymology, derives it from Hiram Codd, British soft drink maker of the 1870s, known for the eponymous Codd-neck bottle, with the suggestion that codswallop is a derisive term for soft drinks by beer drinkers, from Codd’s + wallop (“beer (slang)”) “Codd’s beer (sarcastic)”. There is no evidence that early uses had this sense, the slang wallop (“beer”) comes later than Codd’s lifetime, initial spellings (1963 in print) do not reflect such a derivation (*Codd’s wallop and *coddswallop with -dd- are not found), and there is an 80-year gap between proposed coinage and attestation. This is also the name given to the wooden device placed over the neck of a codd bottle and given a push (wallop) to dislodge the marble in the neck of the bottle. The word has also been used to describe the process of opening a codd bottle. Etymology templates: {{unk|en}} Unknown, {{m|en||codswallop}} codswallop, {{m|en|cod's wallop}} cod's wallop, {{m|en|cod}} cod, {{af|en|cod|-s-|wallop|t1=joke, imitation|t3=beer (slang)}} cod (“joke, imitation”) + -s- + wallop (“beer (slang)”), {{m|en|codpiece}} codpiece, {{af|en|cod|-s-|wallop|t1=scrotum, as in <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">codpiece</i>|t3=to hit}} cod (“scrotum, as in codpiece”) + -s- + wallop (“to hit”), {{m|en|cod||fish}} cod (“fish”), {{glossary|folk etymology}} folk etymology, {{m|en||codswallop}} codswallop, {{m|en|wallop||beer (slang)}} wallop (“beer (slang)”), {{m|en|wallop||beer}} wallop (“beer”) Head templates: {{en-interjection}} codswallop
  1. (UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, slang) Used to express disbelief: nonsense!; rubbish! Tags: Australia, Ireland, New-Zealand, UK, slang Synonyms: hogswallop
    Sense id: en-codswallop-en-intj-D8Sszxfo Categories (other): Australian English, British English, Irish English, New Zealand English, English entries with incorrect language header, English terms interfixed with -s- Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 47 53 Disambiguation of English terms interfixed with -s-: 51 49
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: cod's wallop, cods wallop

Noun

IPA: /ˌkɒdzˈwɒl.əp/ [Received-Pronunciation] Audio: En-au-codswallop.ogg [Australia]
Rhymes: -ɒləp Etymology: Unknown, attested from 1959 episode of UK TV series Hancock's Half Hour. The writers (Galton and Simpson) state that the phrase was in general use when the show was broadcast. A national TV appeal in the UK in 2006 failed to find earlier references, though a humorous newspaper column from 1947 does use the fictional name "Sir Aubrey Codswallop". Originally written (1963) codswallop, spelling cod's wallop is later. Various etymologies are proposed from some sense of cod, such as from cod (“joke, imitation”) + -s- + wallop (“beer (slang)”), hence cod + wallop “imitation beer” (with interconsonantal -s- to ease pronunciation of -dw-), or from cod (“scrotum, as in codpiece”) + -s- + wallop (“to hit”), hence cod + wallop “testicle bag” or "tbag" or "hit with testicle bag," or from cod (“fish”) (some part of the fish, as from fishing industry). A frequently given etymology, although widely rejected as a folk etymology, derives it from Hiram Codd, British soft drink maker of the 1870s, known for the eponymous Codd-neck bottle, with the suggestion that codswallop is a derisive term for soft drinks by beer drinkers, from Codd’s + wallop (“beer (slang)”) “Codd’s beer (sarcastic)”. There is no evidence that early uses had this sense, the slang wallop (“beer”) comes later than Codd’s lifetime, initial spellings (1963 in print) do not reflect such a derivation (*Codd’s wallop and *coddswallop with -dd- are not found), and there is an 80-year gap between proposed coinage and attestation. This is also the name given to the wooden device placed over the neck of a codd bottle and given a push (wallop) to dislodge the marble in the neck of the bottle. The word has also been used to describe the process of opening a codd bottle. Etymology templates: {{unk|en}} Unknown, {{m|en||codswallop}} codswallop, {{m|en|cod's wallop}} cod's wallop, {{m|en|cod}} cod, {{af|en|cod|-s-|wallop|t1=joke, imitation|t3=beer (slang)}} cod (“joke, imitation”) + -s- + wallop (“beer (slang)”), {{m|en|codpiece}} codpiece, {{af|en|cod|-s-|wallop|t1=scrotum, as in <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">codpiece</i>|t3=to hit}} cod (“scrotum, as in codpiece”) + -s- + wallop (“to hit”), {{m|en|cod||fish}} cod (“fish”), {{glossary|folk etymology}} folk etymology, {{m|en||codswallop}} codswallop, {{m|en|wallop||beer (slang)}} wallop (“beer (slang)”), {{m|en|wallop||beer}} wallop (“beer”) Head templates: {{en-noun|-}} codswallop (uncountable)
  1. (UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, slang) Senseless talk or writing; nonsense; rubbish. Tags: Australia, Ireland, New-Zealand, UK, slang, uncountable Synonyms: nonsense
    Sense id: en-codswallop-en-noun-KKYA5VrF Categories (other): Australian English, British English, Irish English, New Zealand English, English entries with incorrect language header, English terms interfixed with -s- Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 47 53 Disambiguation of English terms interfixed with -s-: 51 49
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: cod's wallop, cods wallop

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for codswallop meaning in English (11.2kB)

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          "ref": "1981 October 1, John Turner, “Review: Autumn Books: Prometheus bounded?”, in New Scientist, page 41",
          "text": "An interviewer from a Warsaw radio station stopped a citizen in the street. Was the recent demonstration necessary? “History will tell.” But what did he think? “I am not a historian.” Likewise Lumsden′s and Wilson′s book. If it is not a load of codswallop, it will turn out to be very important. If it is not a load of codswallop. Faites vos jeux!",
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          "text": "1993, J. Neville Turner, The One-Day Game – Cricket or Codswallop?, in 2001, David John Headon, The Best Ever Australian Sports Writing: A 200 Year Collection."
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          "ref": "2010, Grahame Howard, The Wishing Book 3 – Extermination, page 66",
          "text": "“I′ve told you all I know,” Rosa Armaz told Boarski and Yermin, “I don′t know what my husband has been doing. He′d mentioned going to Mars with the children but I thought it was a load of codswallop.”",
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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cod",
        "3": "",
        "4": "fish"
      },
      "expansion": "cod (“fish”)",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "folk etymology"
      },
      "expansion": "folk etymology",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "",
        "3": "codswallop"
      },
      "expansion": "codswallop",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "wallop",
        "3": "",
        "4": "beer (slang)"
      },
      "expansion": "wallop (“beer (slang)”)",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "wallop",
        "3": "",
        "4": "beer"
      },
      "expansion": "wallop (“beer”)",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Unknown, attested from 1959 episode of UK TV series Hancock's Half Hour. The writers (Galton and Simpson) state that the phrase was in general use when the show was broadcast. A national TV appeal in the UK in 2006 failed to find earlier references, though a humorous newspaper column from 1947 does use the fictional name \"Sir Aubrey Codswallop\". Originally written (1963) codswallop, spelling cod's wallop is later.\nVarious etymologies are proposed from some sense of cod, such as from cod (“joke, imitation”) + -s- + wallop (“beer (slang)”), hence cod + wallop “imitation beer” (with interconsonantal -s- to ease pronunciation of -dw-), or from cod (“scrotum, as in codpiece”) + -s- + wallop (“to hit”), hence cod + wallop “testicle bag” or \"tbag\" or \"hit with testicle bag,\" or from cod (“fish”) (some part of the fish, as from fishing industry).\nA frequently given etymology, although widely rejected as a folk etymology, derives it from Hiram Codd, British soft drink maker of the 1870s, known for the eponymous Codd-neck bottle, with the suggestion that codswallop is a derisive term for soft drinks by beer drinkers, from Codd’s + wallop (“beer (slang)”) “Codd’s beer (sarcastic)”. There is no evidence that early uses had this sense, the slang wallop (“beer”) comes later than Codd’s lifetime, initial spellings (1963 in print) do not reflect such a derivation (*Codd’s wallop and *coddswallop with -dd- are not found), and there is an 80-year gap between proposed coinage and attestation.\nThis is also the name given to the wooden device placed over the neck of a codd bottle and given a push (wallop) to dislodge the marble in the neck of the bottle. The word has also been used to describe the process of opening a codd bottle.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "codswallop (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "cods‧wal‧lop"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Australian English",
        "British English",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Irish English",
        "New Zealand English",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1959, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, Hancock’s Half Hour",
          "text": "Tony: I was not.\nSidney: Don’t give me that old codswallop. You were counting your money.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1963 October 17, Radio Times, 52/2",
          "text": "Just branding a programme as ‘rubbish’, ‘tripe’, or—there are a lot of these—‘codswallop’, gives little indication of what moved the viewer to write.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1981 October 1, John Turner, “Review: Autumn Books: Prometheus bounded?”, in New Scientist, page 41",
          "text": "An interviewer from a Warsaw radio station stopped a citizen in the street. Was the recent demonstration necessary? “History will tell.” But what did he think? “I am not a historian.” Likewise Lumsden′s and Wilson′s book. If it is not a load of codswallop, it will turn out to be very important. If it is not a load of codswallop. Faites vos jeux!",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "text": "1993, J. Neville Turner, The One-Day Game – Cricket or Codswallop?, in 2001, David John Headon, The Best Ever Australian Sports Writing: A 200 Year Collection."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Grahame Howard, The Wishing Book 3 – Extermination, page 66",
          "text": "“I′ve told you all I know,” Rosa Armaz told Boarski and Yermin, “I don′t know what my husband has been doing. He′d mentioned going to Mars with the children but I thought it was a load of codswallop.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Senseless talk or writing; nonsense; rubbish."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "nonsense",
          "nonsense"
        ],
        [
          "rubbish",
          "rubbish"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, slang) Senseless talk or writing; nonsense; rubbish."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "nonsense"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Australia",
        "Ireland",
        "New-Zealand",
        "UK",
        "slang",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌkɒdzˈwɒl.əp/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɒləp"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-codswallop.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/95/En-au-codswallop.ogg/En-au-codswallop.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/En-au-codswallop.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "cod's wallop"
    },
    {
      "word": "cods wallop"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Codd-neck bottle",
    "Galton and Simpson",
    "Hancock's Half Hour",
    "Hiram Codd"
  ],
  "word": "codswallop"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English 3-syllable words",
    "English compound terms",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English interjections",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms interfixed with -s-",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English terms with unknown etymologies",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "Rhymes:English/ɒləp",
    "Rhymes:English/ɒləp/3 syllables"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en"
      },
      "expansion": "Unknown",
      "name": "unk"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "",
        "3": "codswallop"
      },
      "expansion": "codswallop",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cod's wallop"
      },
      "expansion": "cod's wallop",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cod"
      },
      "expansion": "cod",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cod",
        "3": "-s-",
        "4": "wallop",
        "t1": "joke, imitation",
        "t3": "beer (slang)"
      },
      "expansion": "cod (“joke, imitation”) + -s- + wallop (“beer (slang)”)",
      "name": "af"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "codpiece"
      },
      "expansion": "codpiece",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cod",
        "3": "-s-",
        "4": "wallop",
        "t1": "scrotum, as in <i class=\"Latn mention\" lang=\"en\">codpiece</i>",
        "t3": "to hit"
      },
      "expansion": "cod (“scrotum, as in codpiece”) + -s- + wallop (“to hit”)",
      "name": "af"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cod",
        "3": "",
        "4": "fish"
      },
      "expansion": "cod (“fish”)",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "folk etymology"
      },
      "expansion": "folk etymology",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "",
        "3": "codswallop"
      },
      "expansion": "codswallop",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "wallop",
        "3": "",
        "4": "beer (slang)"
      },
      "expansion": "wallop (“beer (slang)”)",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "wallop",
        "3": "",
        "4": "beer"
      },
      "expansion": "wallop (“beer”)",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Unknown, attested from 1959 episode of UK TV series Hancock's Half Hour. The writers (Galton and Simpson) state that the phrase was in general use when the show was broadcast. A national TV appeal in the UK in 2006 failed to find earlier references, though a humorous newspaper column from 1947 does use the fictional name \"Sir Aubrey Codswallop\". Originally written (1963) codswallop, spelling cod's wallop is later.\nVarious etymologies are proposed from some sense of cod, such as from cod (“joke, imitation”) + -s- + wallop (“beer (slang)”), hence cod + wallop “imitation beer” (with interconsonantal -s- to ease pronunciation of -dw-), or from cod (“scrotum, as in codpiece”) + -s- + wallop (“to hit”), hence cod + wallop “testicle bag” or \"tbag\" or \"hit with testicle bag,\" or from cod (“fish”) (some part of the fish, as from fishing industry).\nA frequently given etymology, although widely rejected as a folk etymology, derives it from Hiram Codd, British soft drink maker of the 1870s, known for the eponymous Codd-neck bottle, with the suggestion that codswallop is a derisive term for soft drinks by beer drinkers, from Codd’s + wallop (“beer (slang)”) “Codd’s beer (sarcastic)”. There is no evidence that early uses had this sense, the slang wallop (“beer”) comes later than Codd’s lifetime, initial spellings (1963 in print) do not reflect such a derivation (*Codd’s wallop and *coddswallop with -dd- are not found), and there is an 80-year gap between proposed coinage and attestation.\nThis is also the name given to the wooden device placed over the neck of a codd bottle and given a push (wallop) to dislodge the marble in the neck of the bottle. The word has also been used to describe the process of opening a codd bottle.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "codswallop",
      "name": "en-interjection"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "cods‧wal‧lop"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "intj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Australian English",
        "British English",
        "English slang",
        "Irish English",
        "New Zealand English"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used to express disbelief: nonsense!; rubbish!"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "nonsense",
          "nonsense"
        ],
        [
          "rubbish",
          "rubbish"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, slang) Used to express disbelief: nonsense!; rubbish!"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "hogswallop"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Australia",
        "Ireland",
        "New-Zealand",
        "UK",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌkɒdzˈwɒl.əp/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɒləp"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-codswallop.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/95/En-au-codswallop.ogg/En-au-codswallop.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/En-au-codswallop.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "cod's wallop"
    },
    {
      "word": "cods wallop"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Codd-neck bottle",
    "Galton and Simpson",
    "Hancock's Half Hour",
    "Hiram Codd"
  ],
  "word": "codswallop"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-24 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (82c8ff9 and f4967a5). 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.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.