See furphy in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "From Furphy (a surname), from the firm of J[ohn] Furphy and Sons. An often-repeated etymology is that during World War I (1914–1918), Australian soldiers in Europe and the Middle East often stood around water carts manufactured by the firm and emblazoned with its name to talk and exchange news and rumours.\nAlternatively, it has been suggested that the word derives from news and rumours spread by soldiers operating Furphy carts collecting garbage and human waste in the Broadmeadows Camp in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in 1914, or shared between soldiers visiting latrines where such Furphy carts would often be seen.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "furphies",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
},
{
"form": "furfie",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "furphy (plural furphies)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"hyphenations": [
{
"parts": [
"fur",
"phy"
]
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Australian English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Entries with translation boxes",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Russian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
}
],
"coordinate_terms": [
{
"word": "Banbury story of a cock and a bull"
},
{
"word": "cock-and-bull story"
},
{
"word": "fish story"
},
{
"word": "tall story"
},
{
"word": "tall tale"
},
{
"word": "traveller's tale"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
67,
73
]
],
"ref": "1916, C[larence] J[ames] Dennis, “The Game”, in The Moods of Ginger Mick, Sydney, N.S.W.: Angus & Robertson, →OCLC, page 110:",
"text": "I know wot I wus born fer now, an' soljerin's me game, / That's no furphy; but I never guessed it once; […]",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
93,
99
],
[
318,
324
]
],
"ref": "1960 September, John Wyndham [pseudonym; John Wyndham Harris], chapter XII, in Trouble with Lichen, London: Michael Joseph, published October 1960, →OCLC, page 153:",
"text": "‘Well, old boy, some other Top Persons have high-stepping wives who go to Nefertiti, and the furphy round the House is that they believe in the thing so solidly that they’ve convinced their husbands, and that’s what’s really at the back of it.’ / 'Now look, you two, sober up a minute. This is serious. I think Bill’s furphy’s right.[…]’",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
16,
24
]
],
"ref": "1996, Julian M. Alston, Philip G. Pardey, “Current Policy in a Contemporary Context”, in Making Science Pay: The Economics of Agricultural R&D Policy (AEI Studies in Agricultural Policy), Washington, D.C.: AEI Press, →ISBN, page 313:",
"text": "A number of the furphies and fads in relation to public-sector agricultural R&D relate to attempts to increase demand for farm products in various ways.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
76,
83
]
],
"ref": "1998, Peter Pinney, Signaller Johnston’s Secret War: New Guinea 1943–1945, St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press, →ISBN, page 156:",
"text": "He's off his lolly. It's just bloody Buka talk. Another of their half-arsed furfies. And he knows it!",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
139,
147
]
],
"ref": "2005, Mark Latham, “2004 Pre-election”, in The Latham Diaries, Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, →ISBN, page 328:",
"text": "[Tim] Gartrell and [John] Faulkner also released Maurie Daly's letter, which was sent to us on Monday, to the media, putting the Liverpool furphies to rest.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"An erroneous or improbable story; also, a rumour."
],
"id": "en-furphy-en-noun-jL7FSqQM",
"links": [
[
"erroneous",
"erroneous"
],
[
"improbable",
"improbable"
],
[
"story",
"story#Noun"
],
[
"rumour",
"rumor#Noun"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(Australia, slang) An erroneous or improbable story; also, a rumour."
],
"related": [
{
"word": "parish-pump"
},
{
"word": "water cooler"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "scuttlebutt"
}
],
"tags": [
"Australia",
"slang"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"lang_code": "fi",
"sense": "erroneous or improbable story",
"word": "juoru"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"lang_code": "fi",
"sense": "erroneous or improbable story",
"word": "kalavale"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"lang_code": "ru",
"roman": "splétnja",
"sense": "erroneous or improbable story",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "спле́тня"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˈfɜːfi/",
"tags": [
"General-Australian",
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"audio": "En-au-furphy.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/e5/En-au-furphy.ogg/En-au-furphy.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/En-au-furphy.ogg"
},
{
"audio": "En-au-furphy.oga",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/09/En-au-furphy.oga/En-au-furphy.oga.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/En-au-furphy.oga",
"text": "-"
},
{
"ipa": "/ˈfɜɹfi/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-furphy.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1f/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_%28NaomiAmethyst%29-furphy.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_%28NaomiAmethyst%29-furphy.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1f/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_%28NaomiAmethyst%29-furphy.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_%28NaomiAmethyst%29-furphy.wav.ogg"
},
{
"homophone": "Furphy"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ɜː(ɹ)fi"
}
],
"word": "furphy"
}
{
"etymology_text": "From Furphy (a surname), from the firm of J[ohn] Furphy and Sons. An often-repeated etymology is that during World War I (1914–1918), Australian soldiers in Europe and the Middle East often stood around water carts manufactured by the firm and emblazoned with its name to talk and exchange news and rumours.\nAlternatively, it has been suggested that the word derives from news and rumours spread by soldiers operating Furphy carts collecting garbage and human waste in the Broadmeadows Camp in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in 1914, or shared between soldiers visiting latrines where such Furphy carts would often be seen.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "furphies",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
},
{
"form": "furfie",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "furphy (plural furphies)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"hyphenations": [
{
"parts": [
"fur",
"phy"
]
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"related": [
{
"word": "parish-pump"
},
{
"word": "water cooler"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"Australian English",
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English eponyms",
"English lemmas",
"English nouns",
"English slang",
"English terms with homophones",
"English terms with quotations",
"Entries with translation boxes",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)fi",
"Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)fi/2 syllables",
"Terms with Finnish translations",
"Terms with Russian translations"
],
"coordinate_terms": [
{
"word": "Banbury story of a cock and a bull"
},
{
"word": "cock-and-bull story"
},
{
"word": "fish story"
},
{
"word": "tall story"
},
{
"word": "tall tale"
},
{
"word": "traveller's tale"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
67,
73
]
],
"ref": "1916, C[larence] J[ames] Dennis, “The Game”, in The Moods of Ginger Mick, Sydney, N.S.W.: Angus & Robertson, →OCLC, page 110:",
"text": "I know wot I wus born fer now, an' soljerin's me game, / That's no furphy; but I never guessed it once; […]",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
93,
99
],
[
318,
324
]
],
"ref": "1960 September, John Wyndham [pseudonym; John Wyndham Harris], chapter XII, in Trouble with Lichen, London: Michael Joseph, published October 1960, →OCLC, page 153:",
"text": "‘Well, old boy, some other Top Persons have high-stepping wives who go to Nefertiti, and the furphy round the House is that they believe in the thing so solidly that they’ve convinced their husbands, and that’s what’s really at the back of it.’ / 'Now look, you two, sober up a minute. This is serious. I think Bill’s furphy’s right.[…]’",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
16,
24
]
],
"ref": "1996, Julian M. Alston, Philip G. Pardey, “Current Policy in a Contemporary Context”, in Making Science Pay: The Economics of Agricultural R&D Policy (AEI Studies in Agricultural Policy), Washington, D.C.: AEI Press, →ISBN, page 313:",
"text": "A number of the furphies and fads in relation to public-sector agricultural R&D relate to attempts to increase demand for farm products in various ways.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
76,
83
]
],
"ref": "1998, Peter Pinney, Signaller Johnston’s Secret War: New Guinea 1943–1945, St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press, →ISBN, page 156:",
"text": "He's off his lolly. It's just bloody Buka talk. Another of their half-arsed furfies. And he knows it!",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
139,
147
]
],
"ref": "2005, Mark Latham, “2004 Pre-election”, in The Latham Diaries, Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, →ISBN, page 328:",
"text": "[Tim] Gartrell and [John] Faulkner also released Maurie Daly's letter, which was sent to us on Monday, to the media, putting the Liverpool furphies to rest.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"An erroneous or improbable story; also, a rumour."
],
"links": [
[
"erroneous",
"erroneous"
],
[
"improbable",
"improbable"
],
[
"story",
"story#Noun"
],
[
"rumour",
"rumor#Noun"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(Australia, slang) An erroneous or improbable story; also, a rumour."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "scuttlebutt"
}
],
"tags": [
"Australia",
"slang"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˈfɜːfi/",
"tags": [
"General-Australian",
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"audio": "En-au-furphy.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/e5/En-au-furphy.ogg/En-au-furphy.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/En-au-furphy.ogg"
},
{
"audio": "En-au-furphy.oga",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/09/En-au-furphy.oga/En-au-furphy.oga.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/En-au-furphy.oga",
"text": "-"
},
{
"ipa": "/ˈfɜɹfi/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-furphy.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1f/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_%28NaomiAmethyst%29-furphy.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_%28NaomiAmethyst%29-furphy.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1f/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_%28NaomiAmethyst%29-furphy.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_%28NaomiAmethyst%29-furphy.wav.ogg"
},
{
"homophone": "Furphy"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ɜː(ɹ)fi"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"lang_code": "fi",
"sense": "erroneous or improbable story",
"word": "juoru"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"lang_code": "fi",
"sense": "erroneous or improbable story",
"word": "kalavale"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"lang_code": "ru",
"roman": "splétnja",
"sense": "erroneous or improbable story",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "спле́тня"
}
],
"word": "furphy"
}
Download raw JSONL data for furphy meaning in English (5.7kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-02-08 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-02-01 using wiktextract (f492ef9 and 9905b1f). 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.