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What does Horsefeathers mean?
What does Horse Feathers mean?
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Why do people say 'Horse Feathers' in a Spiel?
Horsefeathers is a slang word for nonsense or balderdash, first used in 1927. Learn more about its synonyms, examples, word history and related articles from Merriam-Webster dictionary.
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This term, which was originally the single word horsefeathers, but is now also widely written as two words, is of American origin and its use is largely restricted to the USA. Those of us from other parts of the world will know the term from the Marx Brothers' 1932 film Horse Feathers, in which Professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff (Groucho Marx) is unwi...
The term began life in the late 1920s. At that time the American etymologist Leonard Zwilling published an annotated dictionary of the work of the cartoonist T. A. Dorgan (a.k.a. TAD) - A TAD Lexicon. In part 46 of that work, published in 1927, we have the first citation of horsefeathers in print:
Both Dorgan and de Beck used jocular language and are credited with new coinages; for example, gate-crasher (Dorgan) and heebie-jeebies (de Beck). Either could plausibly have coined horsefeathers. It seems likely to have been brought to the public via the popular media as it appears many times in print soon after 1927, which indicates a rapid and w...
Horse feathers is a euphemism for horse-s***, meaning rubbish or nonsense. It was coined by the comic-strip artist Billy de Beck in the late 1920s and popularized by the Marx Brothers' film of the same name.
Horsefeathers definition: something not worth considering.. See examples of HORSEFEATHERS used in a sentence.
2 days ago · horsefeathers in British English. (ˈhɔːsˌfɛðəz ) noun. 1. US slang. nonsense, foolishness. 'This isn't about me and my political life. This is about getting something done.' – 'That is just horsefeathers.'. exclamation.
horsefeathers. slang Nonsense or foolishness. Often used as an exclamation to emphasize that something is nonsense. Oh, that's just horsefeathers, and you know it. A: "Tim said he wants to sell the farm!" B: "Horsefeathers! I said no such thing!"
Mar 10, 2022 · Learn how to use the expression "horsefeathers" to call out nonsense or rubbish in speech. Find out the origin, spelling and examples of this American term from the Marx Brothers film and comic strips.
Horsefeathers is an interjection that means nonsense, foolishness, or disbelief. It is also a noun that refers to the hair on a draft horse's legs or feathering strips on a roof.
