trump·er·y

(trŭm′pə-rē)

n. pl. trump·er·ies

1. Showy but worthless finery; bric-a-brac.

2. Nonsense; rubbish.

3. Deception; trickery; fraud.

[Middle English trompery, deceit, from Middle French tromperie, from tromper, to deceive, from Old French se tromper de (quelqu'un), to deceive, mock (literally, "to play (someone) like a trumpet"), from tromper, to play the trumpet, from trompe, horn, trumpet; see trumpet.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

trumpery

(ˈtrʌmpərɪ)

n, pl -eries

1. foolish talk or actions

2. a useless or worthless article; trinket

adj

useless or worthless

[C15: from Old French tromperie deceit, from tromper to cheat]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

trump•er•y

(ˈtrʌm pə ri)

n., pl. -ries,
adj. n.

1. something without use or value.

2. nonsense; twaddle.

3. Archaic. worthless finery.

adj.

4. of little or no value; worthless; rubbishy.

[1425–75; late Middle English trompery deceit < Middle French tromperie=tromp(er) to deceive (Middle French: to trifle, play with, orig., to play the trumpet; see trump²) + -erie -ery]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	trumpery - nonsensical talk or writing codswallop, folderol, rubbish, tripe, wish-wash, applesauce, trash drivel, garbage - a worthless message jargon, lingo, patois, argot, vernacular, slang, cant - a characteristic language of a particular group (as among thieves); "they don't speak our lingo"
	2.	trumpery - ornamental objects of no great value falderol, folderal, gimcrack, gimcrackery, nonsense, frill decoration, ornament, ornamentation - something used to beautify

Translations

trumpery

[ˈtrʌmpərɪ]

A. ADJ (= frivolous) → frívolo; (= valueless) → inútil, sin valor; (= insignificant) → sin importancia; (= trashy) → de relumbrón

B. N → oropel m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

trumpery

n → Plunder m no pl; (= ornaments) → Kitsch m; (= jewellery) → Flitterkram m; (= nonsense) → Unsinn m

adj → billig; ornaments also → kitschig

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

All he saw was the trumpery parasol that arched its pinkness above her giggling head.

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He turns coiner, and runs away without a word to me beforehand, and writes me a trumpery note, without a date to it, without a farthing of money in it, telling me nothing!

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This yer religion is all a mess of lying trumpery, Tom.

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Think of Milton, Shakespeare, Washington, standing before a reverent world tricked out in the glass beads, the brass ear-rings and tin trumpery of the savages of the plains!

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Thou could'st not prize the rose and the nightingale, but thou wast ready to kiss the swineherd for the sake of a trumpery plaything.

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"Sir, if I may be so bold, what do you mean by a dead set?" If you are a seer, whenever you meet a man you will see all that he owns, ay, and much that he pretends to disown, behind him, even to his kitchen furniture and all the trumpery which he saves and will not burn, and he will appear to be harnessed to it and making what headway he can.

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I declare he quite tormented us all, and when he was quiet at last, out he went into the bit of back garden, picking trumpery little nosegays, and asking me to take them upstairs and make the sick-room look pretty with them.

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Excuse me for giving you the benefit of my trumpery experience.

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"Now that is my story, and I have told it in the interest of your trumpery science; but if on any evening hereafter you observe me wearing this damnable watch, and you have the thoughtfulness to ask me the hour, I shall beg leave to put you to the inconvenience of being knocked down."

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Poor boy, his wife has quite forgotten him and his trumpery love.

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Here were two people to whom life had given casually what I was compelled to go seeking lonely and footsore through the world, and with little hope of finding it at the end; and yet were they so little aware of their good fortune as to risk it over a trumpery theory, a shadow of pseudo-philosophy.

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I say--and see that your trumpery be bright in color and just in weight!"

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