Hogwashes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A collection of nonsense or false information that is intended to mislead or confuse
2. Statements or ideas that are completely absurd, often disregarded as trivial or unworthy of serious consideration
3. A series of meaningless assertions or claims that lack factual basis and are often ridiculed as nonsensical

Etymology: "Hogwashes" is simply the plural of "hogwash," so the real story belongs to the singular. Originally it was literal: in Middle English, "hoggyswasch" named the kitchen scraps and dishwater that were poured into a trough to feed pigs. Its two parts are "hog" and "wash," and the sense of rinsing away was there from the start. The leap from pig feed to nonsense was a figurative one. Talk that is worthless and fit only for disposal was compared to that swill, and over time the word lost its link to pigs and kept only the idea of worthless material. Today a hogwash is a claim too empty to deserve belief, and the plural names several such claims at once.

Synonyms: nonsense, drivel

Antonyms: truth, fact