ballyhoo

ballyhoo
\ \ [20] Ballyhoo remains an etymological mystery, but there is no shortage of suggested candidates as its source: an Irish village called Ballyhooly; an old nautical slang word ballyhoo meaning ‘unseaworthy vessel’, which seems to have been an anglicization of Spanish balahúschooner’; and the bizarre late- 19th-century ballyhoo bird, a fake bird made of wood and cardboard and intended to fool a birdhunter.
\ \ None of them, alas, seems remotely relevant to ballyhoo’s original American sense, ‘barker’s patter outside a circus tent, to encourage people to enter’.

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • Ballyhoo — ist: Hemiramphus brasiliensis, ein Fisch aus der Familie der Halbschnäbler, eine marktschreierische Werbung, die vor allem das Ziel verfolgt, den Preis für ein Produkt auf dem Markt hochzutreiben. das 1986 veröffentlichte Computerspiel Ballyhoo… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • ballyhoo — al ly*hoo v. t. [imp. & p. p. {ballyhooed}; p. pr. & vb. n. {ballyhooing}.] to advertize or publicize noisily or blatantly. [WordNet 1.5] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • ballyhoo — al ly*hoo n. noisy or blatant advertizing or publicity. [WordNet 1.5] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • ballyhoo — publicity, hype, 1908, from circus slang, a short sample of a sideshow (1901), of unknown origin. There is a village of Ballyhooly in County Cork, Ireland. In nautical lingo, ballahou or ballahoo (1867, perhaps 1836) meant an ungainly vessel,… …   Etymology dictionary

  • ballyhoo — n *publicity, promotion, propaganda Analogous words: advertisement, broadcasting (see under DECLARE) …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • ballyhoo — ► NOUN informal ▪ extravagant publicity or fuss. ORIGIN of unknown origin …   English terms dictionary

  • ballyhoo — ☆ ballyhoo [bal′ē ho͞o΄; ] for v.also [ bal΄ē ho͞o′ ] n. [erroneously assoc. with Ballyhooly, village in Ireland: origin obscure] 1. loud talk; noisy uproar 2. loud, exaggerated, or sensational advertising or propaganda vt., vi. ballyhooed,… …   English World dictionary

  • Ballyhoo — Taxobox name = Ballyhoo image width = 250px regnum = Animalia phylum = Chordata classis = Actinopterygii ordo = Beloniformes familia = Hemiramphidae genus = Hemiramphus species = H. brasiliensis binomial = Hemiramphus brasiliensis binomial… …   Wikipedia

  • ballyhoo — [20] Ballyhoo remains an etymological mystery, but there is no shortage of suggested candidates as its source: an Irish village called Ballyhooly; an old nautical slang word ballyhoo meaning ‘unseaworthy vessel’, which seems to have been an… …   The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

  • ballyhoo — [“baelihu] 1. n. publicity. □ I have never heard so much ballyhoo for such a ousy movie. □ After the ballyhoo died down, we realized that nothing at all had really changed. 2. tv. to promote or publicize someone or something. □ They ballyhooed… …   Dictionary of American slang and colloquial expressions

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