transitive verb
Etymology: fob (I)
1. : to put off with a deceit or with an inferior substitute for what is needed or expected
the … patient thus denied effective examination is fobbed off with a bottle of medicine — Spectator
2. : to pass or offer (something spurious) as genuine : palm off
the pretentious phraseology with which they fobbed off their prophecies on the laity — Lancelot Hogben
3. : to put aside : fend off
a pleasant … gift of humor which he used to fob off laymen who wanted a simple explanation of relativity — G.R.Harrison
: thrust away
why do they now fob off what once they would have welcomed eagerly — Walter Lippmann