bambosh

English

Etymology

From bamboozle and bosh.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Noun

bambosh (uncountable)

1. (slang) Humbug; deceptive nonsense.
   • 2001, Kathryn Kirkwood, A Townhouse for Tessa, →ISBN, page 103:

     Annie, a willing accomplice once Daisy had told her a tale of bambosh about wishing to approach Lady Sarah to seek employment for a friend, had also divulged that the dowager spent an hour every Thursday afternoon perusing the shelves at Lackington's Bookshop.

2. (in Haiti) Silliness and revelry.
   • 1991, Richard A. Haggerty, Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies, page 340:

     Some Creole observers have described the post-Duvalier period as diyari demokratik (democratic diarrhea) or bambosh demokrasi (revelry of democracy).

   • 2001, Charles H. Baker Jr., Knife, Fork and Spoon: Eating Around the World, →ISBN, page 198:

     Yes, the bambosh dance is still danced until the dancers, wildly drunk on clairine vanish into the surrounding blackness to capture the partner of their choice.

Verb

bambosh (third-person singular simple present bamboshes, present participle bamboshing, simple past and past participle bamboshed)

1. (slang) To bamboozle; to deceive with nonsense.
   • 1934, Jared Sparks, Edward Everett, James Russell Lowell, The North American Review - Volume 238, page 541:

     Those who play and pay go to extraordinary lengths to be bamboshed.