Bullshitted

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Was misled or deceived through false or exaggerated claims ; spoke nonsense or meaningless statements to someone, often to impress or confuse
2. Was tricked or given untrue or exaggerated information ; used empty or insincere talk to mislead or waste another's time
3. Received deceptive or untrue information intended to misguide ; engaged in babbling or spouting nonsense to obscure the truth or distract others

Etymology: The verb "bullshitted" is simply the past tense of "bullshit," so its story is the story of the noun-turned-verb. The vulgar part of the compound is old and plain: "shit" traces back through Middle English "schite" to Old English "sċitte," which goes back to a Proto-Germanic root meaning "to defecate." The first half is the surprise. "Bull" here is not the animal's name alone, but draws on a separate, older sense of "bull" meaning "lie" or "nonsense," which had nothing to do with cattle. The two words collided and merged, so the compound carries a double meaning, though its origin in the first half is disputed. The figurative sense, meaning useless or untrue talk, is attested from the 1910s, which is when the noun first appears in this extended use. Before that date the term was largely a slang expression for empty or dishonest talk, and the verb form followed from that noun sense. The phrase therefore sits firmly in twentieth-century American slang rather than in older English.

Synonyms: deceived, fooled