codswallop

noun

cods·​wal·​lop ˈkȯdz-ˌwä-ləp 

ˈkädz-

British, informal

: words or ideas that are foolish or untrue : nonsense

The notion that Scott was waylaid by bad luck is "a lot of codswallop," said Roland Huntford, a British historian.

—Kenneth Chang

"Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion …"

—J. K. Rowling

… I muttered, "Yes, that's right," knowing all the while that it was a load of codswallop.

—Steven Pinker

Synonyms

• applesauce [slang]
• balderdash
• baloney
• boloney
• beans
• bilge
• blah
• blah-blah
• blarney
• blather
• blatherskite
• blither
• bosh
• bull [slang]
• bunk
• bunkum
• buncombe
• claptrap
• crapola [slang]
• crock
• drivel
• drool
• fiddle
• fiddle-faddle
• fiddlesticks
• flannel [British]
• flapdoodle
• folderol
• falderal
• folly
• foolishness
• fudge
• garbage
• guff
• hogwash
• hokeypokey
• hokum
• hoodoo
• hooey
• horsefeathers [slang]
• humbug
• humbuggery
• jazz
• malarkey
• malarky
• moonshine
• muck
• nerts [slang]
• nonsense
• nuts
• piffle
• poppycock
• punk
• rot
• rubbish
• senselessness
• silliness
• slush
• stupidity
• taradiddle
• tarradiddle
• tommyrot
• tosh
• trash
• trumpery
• twaddle

Examples of codswallop in a Sentence

That is a load of codswallop.

a trendy London restaurant serving bizarre concoctions that anyone with a brain and a stomach would dismiss as codswallop

Recent Examples on the Web

Great story, total codswallop, says Skaife, who has pored through the archives and found zip. —William Booth, The Seattle Times, 26 Oct. 2018

And don’t forget codswallop, a word that sounds Shakespearean but was coined in 1959. —Stephen Miller, WSJ, 29 May 2018

Mnuchin tried to double-talk this codswallop past SPW. —Charles P. Pierce, Esquire, 19 May 2017

Word History

Etymology

origin unknown

First Known Use

1959, in the meaning defined above