bogus adj : fraudulent; having a misleading appearance [syn: fake, phony, phoney, bastard]

English

Etymology

First attested from 1797, as underworld term for counterfeit coins. Meaning of the machine (known as a bogus press) was first attested 1828. Sense of phony paper money as well as a general adjective applied to anything, being less valuable than it first appeared was first attested 1848. Later, the word was applied to anything of poor quality. The current use to mean useless is probably from the slang of computer hackers.

The origin is unknown, but there are at least two theories that try to trace its origin:

• From Hausa boko, to fake. Since bogus first appeared in the USA, this may be possible that its ancestor was brought there on a slave ship.
• From criminal slang as a short form of tantrabogus, a 19th century slang term for a menacing object, making some believe that bogus might be linked to bogy or bogey (see bogeyman).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -əʊɡəs

Adjective

bogus

1. Counterfeit or fake; not genuine.
2. Incorrect; useless; broken.
   • “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”, 1982

     So what Jefferson was saying was "Hey! You know, we left this England place because it was bogus. So if we don't get some cool rules ourselves, pronto, we'll just be bogus too."

3. (stamp-collecting) a totally fictitious issue printed for collectors, often issued on behalf of a non-existent territory or country.

   Should not be confused with ‘forgery’ which is a copy of a genuine stamp.

Synonyms

• (counterfeit): counterfeit, fake, phony
• (incorrect): incorrect, useless, broken
• (stamp-collecting) illegal

Derived terms

• bogon
• bogosity

Translations

Bogus can mean:

• Not genuine; spurious
• Of computer programs, "not working"
• Bogus (film), a 1996 film starring Whoopi Goldberg
• Bogus Basin mountain resort in Idaho

See also

• BogoMips
• Bogon
• Bogosort
• Quantum bogodynamics

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