codologyn.
/kɒˈdɒlədʒi/, U.S. /kɑˈdɑlədʒi/, Irish English /kɑˈdɑlədʒi/ colloquial (chiefly Irish English).
Nonsense, rubbish; fooling, hoaxing, humbugging.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > trickery, playing jokes > [noun]
legerdemain1532
hocus-pocus1647
sham1683
funning1728
humbugging1752
humming1807
hoaxing1808
larking1813
cutting-up1843
cut-up1843
shenanigan1855
codology1860
greening1863
cod1866
leg-pulling1879
spoof1889
codding1892
spoofery1895
four-flushing1901
kidding1901
shenaniganning1924
kidology1964
1860 Gippsland Guardian (Port Albert, Victoria) 7 Sept. Were I to lower myself to the standard of Billingsgate codology, in which your correspondent signing himself the 'Local Celebrity' indulges in, I might repay his remarks with interest.
1889 Freeman's Jrnl. (Dublin) 29 Jan. 4/7 But is it for recording this great-grandmother codology that we have a Dublin Chamber of Commerce, and that they have a secretary, and that he drivels them out a Report?
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xii. [Cyclops] 292 The why and the wherefore and all the codology of the business.
1966 Listener 8 Dec. 863/1 Apart from some typical codology and a handful of tender personal messages—his [sc. James Joyce's] stuff is tidily to the point and businesslike.
2018 Irish Independent (National ed.) (Nexis) 13 Oct. All the glitzy, glammy marketing codology that can sometimes sweep us along when it comes to our beauty choices.
Derivatives
coˈdologist n. A person who talks nonsense; a hoaxer, joker.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > trickery, playing jokes > [noun] > practitioner
japer1362
practiser1545
practitioner1560
amuser1583
fopper1659
hummer1763
prankster1811
hoaxer1814
puck1823
practical joker1830
pranking1852
card1853
leg-puller1887
kidder1888
pranker1890
codologist1897
spoofer1914
wind-up artist1984
1897 Worker (Brisbane) 30 Oct. 5/4 A celebrated European codologist has been predicting that the earth is going to be smashed to smithereens in the middle of next year or thereabouts.
1928 Daily Express 15 Feb. 11 There is in Ireland a science unknown to us in England called Codology... The English is ‘leg-pulling’... When I received an invitation to breakfast at the Dublin Zoo I thought that I could detect the hand of the chief codologist.
2004 Sunday Tribune (Ireland) (Nexis) 15 Feb. 15 The chancers, charlatans and codologists who would aspire to setting up a retirement fund off the backs of working reporters.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2020; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1860