spoofn.adj.
/spuːf/, U.S. /spuf/ slang.
1. A game of a hoaxing and nonsensical character. Also, a trivial round game of cards in which certain cards when occurring together are denominated ‘spoof’.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > children's or simple games > [noun]
snap snorum1622
beggar-my-neighbour1734
snip-snap-snorum1755
old maid1831
pounce commerce1847
muggins1855
happy families1861
author1863
snap1881
strip-jack-naked1881
spoof1884
animal grab1894
grab1900
donkey1920
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > other specific games > [noun] > others
sitisota1400
papsea1450
half-bowl1477
pluck at the crow1523
white and black1555
running game1581
blow-pointa1586
hot cocklesa1586
one penny1585
cockelty bread1595
pouch1600
venter-point1600
hinch-pinch1603
hardhead1606
poor and rich1621
rowland-hoe1622
hubbub1634
handicap?a1653
owl1653
ostomachy1656
prelledsa1660
quarter-spellsa1660
yert-point1659
bob-her1702
score1710
parson has lost his cloak1712
drop (also throw) (the) handkerchief1754
French Fox1759
goal1765
warpling o' the green1768
start1788
kiss-in-the-ring1801
steal-clothes1809
steal-coat1816
petits paquets1821
bocce1828
graces1831
Jack-in-the-box1836
hot hand1849
sparrow-mumbling1852
Aunt Sally1858
gossip1880
Tambaroora1882
spoof1884
fishpond1892
nim1901
diabolo1906
Kim's game1908
beaver1910
treasure-hunt1913
roll-down1915
rock scissors paper1927
scissors cut paper1927
scissors game1927
the dozens1928
toad in the hole1930
game1932
scissors paper stone1932
Roshambo1936
Marco Polo1938
scavenger hunt1940
skish1940
rock paper scissors1947
to play chicken1949
sounding1962
joning1970
arcade game1978
1884 Topical Times 13 Dec. 3/2 The revival of Spouf in Great Britain and America is..wholly due to private enterprise, and..Monsieur Arthur Roberts.
1889 Pall Mall Gaz. 14 May 5/1 ‘The Adelphi Club was the birthplace of the mysterious game called “Spoof”, was it not?’—‘Yes, I invented the pastime.’
1894 D. C. Murray Rising Star II. 235 There is in theatrical circles an amusement which is known as the game of spoof.
1895 B. M. Croker Village Tales 89 We..were sitting in our dining~room tent fanning ourselves vigorously and playing ‘spoof’.
2.
a. Hoax, humbug; an instance of this.
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
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > trickery, playing jokes > [noun] > a trick, prank, hoax
pratOE
mowa1393
pageant?c1430
jimp?1572
prank1576
jest1578
jig1592
frump1593
trick1605
bilk1664
fun1699
plisky1706
humbug1750
hum1751
practical joke1751
marlock1763
quiz1795
practical joke1804
skite1804
hoax1808
skit1815
wrinkle1817
rusty1835
funny business1838
string1851
stringer1851
cod1862
mank1865
spoof1889
leg-pull1893
rannygazoo1896
shenanigan1926
gotcha1967
to throw a fastball1968
wind-up1984
1889 E. Dowson Let. 19 May (1967) 80 We sat dejectedly in the office but were obliged to admit finally that it was a case of ‘spoof’.
1897 Westm. Gaz. 23 Apr. 2/1 There seems just a little too much ‘spoof’ about the long-talked-of Trickoli.
1905 Sat. Rev. 16 Sept. 370 One sees that the whole thing is a clumsy spoof.
b. A skit or ‘send-up’; spec. a film, play, or other work that satirizes a particular genre.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > a written composition > [noun] > lampoon or satire
bill1426
satire1509
squibc1525
pasquil1542
pasquinata1592
cockalane1596
pasquinado1600
Pasquin1611
lampoon1645
pasquinade1658
banter1695
jeu d'esprit1712
Dunciad1728
squiblet1820
squibling1884
satirette1894
spoof1958
1958 Oxf. Mag. 13 Mar. 374/2 This..programme..proved to be an experimental double-dose of theatrical spoof.
1958 Films in Rev. May 254/1 There had been a few films which foreshadowed the screwball pattern, particularly the hilarious Hollywood spoof Bombshell.
1975 D. Lodge Changing Places ii. 61 Even the weather forecast seemed to be some kind of spoof.
1977 Time 3 Jan. 71/1 The prolific Gardner sets a spoof of pulp fiction inside a philosophical monologue on good and evil.
3. attributive and as adj. Hoaxing, humbugging.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > trickery, playing jokes > [adjective]
hocus-pocus1668
legerdemain1683
hoaxical1819
tricky1868
spoof1884
plisky1887
1884 Topical Times 13 Dec. 3/2 At Byzantium many Spouf Courts were; but when it became the capital of the Greek empire the game fell into disuse.
1895 A. Roberts in Daily News 26 Aug. 6/3 My ‘spoof French’ has often been the subject of amusement.
1899 Westm. Gaz. 27 June 7/2 Asking him to..send a ‘spoof wire’—meaning any sort of nonsense.
1914 G. B. Shaw Fanny's Last Play Epil., in Misalliance 229 How am I to know how to take it? Is it serious, or is it spoof? If the author knows what his play is, let him tell us what it is.
1927 Observer 20 Nov. 20/5 This is a spoof piece which fails, through sheer clumsiness, to spoof.
1946 V. Tempest Near Sun iii. 27 The spoof-feint raid that has been put on to make Jerry think that we are going to central Germany.
1978 K. Gregory First Cuckoo 25 [Readers] are invited to spot the ‘spoof’ letter whose apparent erudition hoaxed the editor into printing it.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
spoofv.
/spuːf/, U.S. /spuf/ colloquial and slang.
1. transitive. To hoax or humbug; †to avoid by means of a ruse. Also absol.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > trickery, playing jokes > trick, hoax [verb (transitive)]
jape1362
bejape1377
play1562
jugglea1592
dally1595
trick1595
bore1602
jadea1616
to fool off1631
top1663
whiska1669
hocus1675
to put a sham upon1677
sham1677
fun?1685
to put upon ——1687
rig1732
humbug1750
hum1751
to run a rig1764
hocus-pocus1774
cram1794
hoax1796
kid1811
string1819
to play off1821
skylark1823
frisk1825
stuff1844
lark1848
kiddy1851
soap1857
to play it (on)1864
spoof1889
to slip (something) over (on)1912
cod1941
to pull a person's chain1975
game1996
1889 E. Dowson Let. 10 Mar. (1967) 48 It is the ‘après’ wh. spoofs us.
1889 E. Dowson Let. 11 Nov. (1967) 115 The Lord Mayorlet's Tom Foolery was a nuisance. I spoofed it successfully by going from Limehouse to Bloomsbury by tram.
1895 Punch 28 Dec. 301/1 I ‘spoof’ him—to use a latter~day term.
1901 Daily Mail 2 Apr. 5/7 The House gave the willing tribute of laughter to the fact that it had been ‘spoofed’.
1933 Sun (Baltimore) 8 July 6/7 It will be found necessary to handle our Doctor with much circumspection if he is not spoofing.
1977 ‘J. le Carré’ Honourable Schoolboy i. 31 The story had everything... It spoofed the British.
2. To make (something) appear foolish by means of parody; to ‘send up’. Also absol.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > derision, ridicule, or mockery > ridicule or mockery by specific means > ridicule or mock by specific means [verb (transitive)] > ridicule or mock by imitation
mocka1616
buffoon1638
mimic1671
burlesque1676
parody1733
caricature1749
to take off1750
travesty1825
grotesque1875
cartoon1884
spoof1927
to send up1931
1927 Observer 20 Nov. 20/5 This is a spoof piece which fails, through sheer clumsiness, to spoof.
1953 Time 6 July 68/2 Parade..spoofed the whole practice with a circulation brochure to prove that it is headed unmistakably toward the ‘googol’.
1981 W. Safire in N.Y. Times Mag. 29 Mar. 10/3 ‘Urbababble’..spoofs the lingo of those urbane people in the city business.
3. To render (a radar system, etc.) useless by providing it with false information.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > radio communications > communicate by radio [verb (transitive)] > of radar: render useless
spoof1972
society > armed hostility > military equipment > operation and use of weapons > putting weapons or equipment out of action > put weapons or equipment out of action [verb (transitive)] > render radar useless
spoof1972
1972 Sci. Amer. July 18/3 The opposition need not even destroy the installation; by sampling the pulses emitted by the system it can contrive to ‘spoof’ or jam it.
1977 R.A.F. News 27 Apr. 20/4 They were, however, ‘soft spots’ in a defensive system. They would have to be attacked again and again and they would have to be spoofed by the considerable number of methods now available.
Derivatives
spoofed adj. /spuːft/
/spuːft/ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > derision, ridicule, or mockery > ridicule or mockery by specific means > [adjective] > mockingly imitative > ridiculed by imitation
travesty1664
travestied1677
caricatured1813
spoofed1958
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > duping, making a fool of > [adjective] > fooled, duped
foolified1584
fool-taken1608
cozened1610
gullified1624
gulled1647
sweet1673
bubbled1681
bilked1682
imposed-upon1706
cheated1709
duped1756
pigeoned1777
swindled1809
thimblerigged1840
befooled1842
bamboozled1866
spoofed1958
dicked1972
1958 P. Scott Mark of Warrior ii. 176 He's got me spoofed in terms of the exercise.
1975 New Yorker 19 May 22/3 It's an atrocity, of course, and one of the most spoofed of all the Jeanette MacDonald–Nelson Eddy operettas.
ˈspoofer n. one who spoofs.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > derision, ridicule, or mockery > ridicule or mockery by specific means > [noun] > by imitation > one who
burlesquer1657
caricaturer1758
caricaturist1798
spoofer1914
piss-taker1976
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
1914 Conc. Oxf. Dict. Addenda Spoofer.
1926 A. H. Godwin Gilbert & Sullivan 219 Bunthorne..is, in common language, a spoofer.
1928 Sunday Express 27 May 7/4 ‘I don't believe it, do you?’ ‘Of course not,’ I replied, ‘The fellow's a spoofer.’
1976 Time 20 Dec. 53/3 Gardner has set himself two roles..: the hilarious spoofer of pulp fiction [etc.].
ˈspoofery n. †(a) plural, a low sporting club; also spec. the Adelphi (cf. 1889 at spoof n. 1) (obsolete slang); (b) trickery, hoaxing.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > player or sportsperson > [noun] > specific club
spoofery1895
athletics club1954
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
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > [noun] > places for gambling
dicing-house1549
carding house1550
gaming house1562
dicing-chamber1571
tabling house1576
game house?1577
macaroni1771
gambling house1772
gambling school1773
gambling club1774
spill-house1778
gambling hall?1781
gambling den1792
gambling booth1804
hell1812
gambling hell1818
Crockford1827
silver hell1835
deadfall1837
casino1851
house1855
tripot1864
skin house1871
bucket-shop1875
gambling joint1885
salle1886
tabling den1886
spoofery1895
salle de jeu1901
strong joint1914
kitchen1924
salle privée1930
spieler1931
1895 People 6 Jan. 13/4 About half-past one this morning I was in the ‘Spooferies’—Where? In the ‘Spooferies’—the Trafalgar Club they call it now—in Maiden-Lane.
1903 A. M. Binstead Pitcher in Paradise x. 227 ‘And when it comes to comparing the Spooferies with the House of Lords,’ the missive concluded, ‘it is a million to one on the Spooferies.’ The other name of the Spooferies was the Adelphi Club.
1926 K. Grahame in G. Sanger Seventy Years a Showman 20 The whole thing was unabashed ‘spoofery’—clumsy fakes, dried fish, abortions in bottles,..and so on.
1978 G. Mitchell Wraiths & Changelings xv. 147 Ghosts are part of my stock-in-trade..so..I'm up to most of the dodges... The plainsong..was the only artistic effort..attempted in any of the spoofery.
ˈspoofing n. and adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > derision, ridicule, or mockery > ridicule or mockery by specific means > [noun] > by imitation
mock1646
travestya1668
burlesquing1677
parody1730
burlesque1753
taking off1755
ludicrism1830
masquerade1847
caricaturing1859
charade1871
spoofing1920
piss-taking1967
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > derision, ridicule, or mockery > ridicule or mockery by specific means > [adjective] > mockingly imitative > that ridicules by imitation
burlesquing1688
spoofing1920
society > communication > telecommunication > radio communications > [noun] > other methods or operations > radar > procedures
spoofing1920
illumination1942
shaping1945
interrogation1946
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > trickery, playing jokes > [adjective] > employing trickery
trifling?a1400
bantering1660
hoaxing1808
mystifyingc1827
bluffing1850
four-flushing1901
spoofing1920
shenaniganning1924
1920 Quill Dec. 9 The after-dinner speeches..were brilliant impromptu spoofings directed at the guest of honor.
a1936 R. Kipling Something of Myself (1937) iii. 48 There were..‘spoofing’-letters from subalterns to be guarded against.
1965 H. Kahn On Escalation v. 86 If the super-ready status is accompanied by limited ‘spoofing’ or ‘jamming’ or other hostile acts.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1884v.1889