bah humbug

Interjection

1. (humorous) Expressing cynicism, disillusionment or distrustfulness; and specifically a dislike of Christmas and its celebrations and festivities.
   • Honor!—bah! humbug! Patriotism!—pshaw! / Are we to be bamboozled by such guys?1848 January 22, “Important Official Documents”, in The John-Donkey, volume I, number IV, New York, N.Y.: Published and supplied by George Dexter, Burgess, Stringer & Co., W. H. Graham, R. G. Berford...
   • Only a modern Scrooge could say, "Bah, Humbug," where helping people to get enough to eat is concerned. Well, we are not going to argue that food aid has never filled an empty stomach or saved a dying child—but we will contend, in the case of the United States at least, that it has done so only...1976, Susan George, “Food Aid? … Or Weapon?”, in How the Other Half Dies: The Real Reasons for World Hunger, Harmondsworth, London; New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books; reprinted Totowa, N.J.: Rowman &...

Verb

bah humbug (third-person singular simple present bah humbugs, present participle bah humbugging, simple past and past participle bah humbugged)

1. To utter the words "bah humbug"; to dismiss with the words, or sentiment, of the interjection.
   • This can be bah-humbugged or it can be accepted with a child’s quick joy. Who has the right to celebrate, to adore God for his sake, to muse around a manger, to light the candles and give the gifts and sing the songs?1961 December 20, The Christian Century, Chicago, page 1515, column 2
   • Once my gear was packed I was eager to go, and get away from Sydney before Christmas found me bah-humbugging my way through a bottle of scotch.2005, Paul Carter, Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, page 127