The number of million times a second a processor can do absolutely nothing. The Linux OS measures BogoMIPS at startup in order to calibrate some soft timing loops that will be used later on; details at the BogoMIPS mini-HOWTO . The name Linus chose, of course, is an ironic comment on the uselessness of all other MIPS figures.
BOGOMIPS
Meaning of BOGOMIPS in English
Jargon File English vocabulary. Английский словарь жаргона. 2012