1837. R. H. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends. (Ed. 1862). p. 239. That sort of address which the British call humbug and Frenchmen ‘Finesse.’ (It’s ‘Blarney’ in Irish—I don’t know the Scotch.)
1842. Douglas Jerrold, Bubbles of the Day, i. Never say humbug; it’s coarse. Sir P. And not respectable. Smoke. Pardon me, my lord; it was coarse. But the fact is, humbug has received such high patronage, that now it’s quite classic.
3. A cheat; an impostor; a pretender. Also (old), hummer.
d. 1783. Henry Brooke, Poems (1776). ‘On Humbugging.’ (Chalmers’ English Poets, 1810, xvii., 428). Our hummers in state, physic, learning, and law. [[379]]
1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v. Hum. He is a humbug that has recourse to the meanness. He wishes to be a bugaboo, or most exalted fool.
1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xxx. ‘You’re a humbug, sir.’ ‘A what?’ said Mr. Winkle, starting. ‘A humbug, sir. I will speak plainer, if you wish it. An imposter, sir.’
Verb. To hoax; to swindle; to cajole.
1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. lxxxv. He who seemed to be most afflicted of the two taking his departure with an exclamation of ‘Humbugged, egad!’
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1826. The Fancy, ii., 77. We would not have the reader believe we mean to humbug him—not for a moment.