First Known Use: 1901
Dictionary
ballyhoo
noun bal·ly·hoo \ˈba-lē-ˌhü\
: talk or writing that is designed to get people excited or interested in something
plural bal·ly·hoos
Full Definition of BALLYHOO
1
: a noisy attention-getting demonstration or talk
2
: flamboyant, exaggerated, or sensational promotion or publicity
3
: excited commotion
— ballyhoo transitive verb
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Origin of BALLYHOO
origin unknown
Related to BALLYHOO
- Synonyms
- ado, alarums and excursions, commotion, blather, bluster, bobbery, bother, bustle, clatter, clutter [chiefly dialect], coil, corroboree [Australian], disturbance, do [chiefly dialect], foofaraw, fun, furor, furore, fuss, helter-skelter, hoo-ha (also hoo-hah), hoopla, hubble-bubble, hubbub, hullabaloo, hurly, hurly-burly, hurricane, hurry, hurry-scurry (or hurry-skurry), kerfuffle [chiefly British], moil, pandemonium, pother, row, ruckus, ruction, rumpus, shindy, splore [Scottish], squall, stew, stir, storm, to-do, tumult, turmoil, uproar, welter, whirl, williwaw, zoo
Rhymes with BALLYHOO
aperçu, avenue, babassu, baby blue, barbecue, billet-doux, bird's-eye view, black-and-blue, buckaroo, bugaboo, callaloo, caribou, catechu, clerihew, cobalt blue, cockapoo, cockatoo, Cotonou, counterview, curlicue, déjà vu, derring-do, detinue, feverfew, follow-through, gardyloo, hitherto, honeydew, ingenue, interview, IOU, Irish stew, jabiru, Jiangsu, kangaroo, Kathmandu, kinkajou, loup-garou, Makalu, manitou, marabou, McAdoo, microbrew, midnight blue, Montague, Montesquieu, Mountain View, ormolu, overdo, overdue, overshoe, overstrew, overview, parvenu, parvenue, pas de deux, passe-partout, pay-per-view, PDQ, peacock blue, peekaboo, peer review, petting zoo, Pompidou, Port Salut, rendezvous, residue, retinue, revenue, Roh Tae Woo, seppuku, Shikoku, sneak preview, succès fou, switcheroo, talking-to, teleview, Telugu, thereunto, thirty-two, thitherto, Timbuktu, tinamou, twenty-two, view halloo, vindaloo, w, wallaroo, waterloo, well-to-do, what have you, whoop-de-do, witches' brew, Xanadu
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