blahn.
/blɑː/, U.S. /blɑ/ colloquial (originally U.S.).
Meaningless, insincere, or pretentious talk or writing; nonsense, bunkum. Also used as a derisive interjection. Frequently reduplicated.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > insincere or pretentious talk > [noun]
flash1605
sniffling1653
canting1659
cant1710
galbanum1764
gas1793
blarney1796
gammon1805
slum1812
claptrap1819
flam1825
glittering generality1849
bull's wool1850
eyewash1857
bunkum1862
hot air1873
kid1874
fustian1880
flubdub1888
bull1914
oil1917
blah1918
drip1919
piss and wind1922
banana-oil1927
flannel1927
crud1943
old talk1956
ole talk1964
okey-doke1969
yada yada1991
1918 H. V. O'Brien Diary 3 July in Wine, Women & War (1926) 136 [He] pulled old blah about ‘service’, ‘doing one's bit’, etc.
1921 Collier's 15 Jan. 10/3 Then a special announcer begin a long debate with himself which was mostly blah blah.
1922 S. Lewis Babbitt xxx. 359 Why the dickens they want to put in their time listening to all that blaa.
1924 M. Arlen Green Hat vi. 164 So you heard about it from that femme fatale, did you? Damn that man! Bla, bla, bla!
1926 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 22 Aug. 4 There is usually a disgusting blah of important high-sounding words.
1927 Observer 10 July 28/1 England isn't fooling anyone with so much ‘blah’ about the world's greatest tournament.
1943 ‘G. Orwell’ in New Road 1943 151 Exactly similar blah is being written about the Red Army at this moment.
1958 E. H. Clements Uncommon Cold 229 A good deal of blah about waste of public money.
Derivatives
blah v.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > insincere or pretentious talk > talk insincerely [verb (intransitive)]
vapour1629
cant1648
quack1650
gas1849
bull1850
to shoot the bull1922
blah1924
1924 ‘W. Fabian’ Sailors' Wives iv. 56 I was just blahing to hear myself blah.
1942 ‘G. Orwell’ Diary 18 Apr. in Coll. Ess. (1968) II. 419 The tactless utterances of Americans who for years have been blahing about ‘Indian freedom’ and British imperialism.
blah-blah v. (intransitive) to talk or write ‘blah’.
ΚΠ
1931 St. J. Ervine in Time & Tide 12 Sept. 1057 That schoolmasters should permit him to blah-blah about his ignorance is a crime against the mind.
1945 ‘G. Orwell’ in Tribune 14 Dec. 10/3 Instead of blah-blahing about the clean, healthy rivalry of the football field..it is more useful to inquire how and why this modern cult of sport arose.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
blahadj.
slang.
1. Mad. (? originally U.S.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > [adjective] > insanity or madness > affected with
woodc725
woodsekc890
giddyc1000
out of (by, from, of) wit or one's witc1000
witlessc1000
brainsickOE
amadc1225
lunaticc1290
madc1330
sickc1340
brain-wooda1375
out of one's minda1387
frenetica1398
fonda1400
formada1400
unwisea1400
brainc1400
unwholec1400
alienate?a1425
brainless1434
distract of one's wits1470
madfula1475
furious1475
distract1481
fro oneself1483
beside oneself1490
beside one's patience1490
dementa1500
red-wood?1507
extraught1509
misminded1509
peevish1523
bedlam-ripe1525
straughta1529
fanatic1533
bedlama1535
daft1540
unsounda1547
stark raving (also staring) mad1548
distraughted1572
insane1575
acrazeda1577
past oneself1576
frenzy1577
poll-mad1577
out of one's senses1580
maddeda1586
frenetical1588
distempered1593
distraught1597
crazed1599
diswitted1599
idle-headed1599
lymphatical1603
extract1608
madling1608
distracteda1616
informala1616
far gone1616
crazy1617
March mada1625
non compos mentis1628
brain-crazed1632
demented1632
crack-brained1634
arreptitiousa1641
dementate1640
dementated1650
brain-crackeda1652
insaniated1652
exsensed1654
bedlam-witteda1657
lymphatic1656
mad-like1679
dementative1685
non compos1699
beside one's gravity1716
hyte1720
lymphated1727
out of one's head1733
maddened1735
swivel-eyed1758
wrong1765
brainsickly1770
fatuous1773
derangedc1790
alienated1793
shake-brained1793
crack-headed1796
flighty1802
wowf1802
doitrified1808
phrenesiac1814
bedlamite1815
mad-braineda1822
fey1823
bedlamitish1824
skire1825
beside one's wits1827
as mad as a hatter1829
crazied1842
off one's head1842
bemadded1850
loco1852
off one's nut1858
off his chump1864
unsane1867
meshuga1868
non-sane1868
loony1872
bee-headed1879
off one's onion1881
off one's base1882
(to go) off one's dot1883
locoed1885
screwy1887
off one's rocker1890
balmy or barmy on (or in) the crumpet1891
meshuggener1892
nutty1892
buggy1893
bughouse1894
off one's pannikin1894
ratty1895
off one's trolley1896
batchy1898
twisted1900
batsc1901
batty1903
dippy1903
bugs1904
dingy1904
up the (also a) pole1904
nut1906
nuts1908
nutty as a fruitcake1911
bugged1920
potty1920
cuckoo1923
nutsy1923
puggled1923
blah1924
détraqué1925
doolally1925
off one's rocket1925
puggle1925
mental1927
phooey1927
crackers1928
squirrelly1928
over the edge1929
round the bend1929
lakes1934
ding-a-ling1935
wacky1935
screwball1936
dingbats1937
Asiatic1938
parlatic1941
troppo1941
up the creek1941
screwed-up1943
bonkers1945
psychological1952
out to lunch1955
starkers1956
off (one's) squiff1960
round the twist1960
yampy1963
out of (also off) one's bird1966
out of one's skull1967
whacked out1969
batshit1971
woo-woo1971
nutso1973
out of (one's) gourd1977
wacko1977
off one's meds1986
1924 Telegr. & Teleph. Jrnl. 10 68/2 The third class is hopeless... It consists of the people who, in New York slang, have gone ‘blah’.
1928 A. E. W. Mason Prisoner in Opal xxiii. 276 More of your questions and I am blah.
2. Dull, unexciting; pretentious.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > feeling of weariness or tedium > [adjective] > wearisome or tedious
dreicha1300
alangec1330
joylessa1400
tedious1412
wearifulc1454
weary1465
laboriousa1475
tiresome?a1513
irksome1513
wearisome1530
woodena1566
irkful1570
flat1573
leaden1593
barren1600
soaked1600
unlively1608
dulla1616
irking1629
drearisome1633
drear1645
plumbous1651
fatigable1656
dreary1667
uncurious1685
unenlivened1692
blank1726
disinteresting1737
stupid1748
stagnant1749
trist?1756
vegetable1757
borish1766
uninteresting1769
unenlivening1774
oorie1787
wearying1796
subjectless1803
yawny1805
wearing1811
stuffy1813
sloomy1820
tediousome1823
arid1827
lacklustrous1834
boring1839
featureless1839
slow1840
sodden1853
ennuying1858
dusty1860
cabbagy1861
old1864
mouldy1876
yawnful1878
drab1880
dehydrated1884
interestless1886
jay1889
boresome1895
stodgy1895
stuffy1895
yawnsome1900
sludgy1901
draggy1922
blah1937
nowhere1940
drack1945
stupefactive1970
schleppy1978
wack1986
1937 N. Marsh Vintage Murder xi. 122 That fascinating blah stuff of hers goes down with the nitwits.
1955 H. Roth Sleeper ix. 68 You must..have come to realize how blank and blah he made himself.
1959 J. Verney Friday's Tunnel iv. 49 One of those blah sneery voices like a butler in a film.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online September 2019).
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n.1918adj.1924