I. ˈhəmˌbəg noun
( -s )
Etymology: origin unknown
1.
a. : something designed to deceive and mislead : quackery , hoax , fraud , imposture
contrived so many delicious humbugs to foist on the gullible public — R.L.Taylor
b. : a person who usually willfully deceives or misleads others as to his true condition, qualities, or attitudes : one who passes himself off as something that he is not : sham , hypocrite , impostor
denounced as humbugs the playwrights who magnify the difficulties of their craft — Times Literary Supplement
he's no doctor; he's a humbug
c. : an attitude or spirit of pretense and deception or self-deception
in all his humbug , in all his malice and hollowness — Mary Lindsay
d. : something empty of sense or meaning : drivel , nonsense
a frightful lot of humbug talked about glasses — L.B.Somerville-Large
academic humbug
2. Britain : a peppermint candy
Synonyms: see imposture
II. transitive verb
: impose on : deceive , cajole , hoax
humbugged me into buying his worthless stock
humbugged by their doctors, pillaged by their tradesmen — G.B.Shaw
intransitive verb
: to play the part of a humbug