Barnumize, v.
(ˈbɑːnəmaɪz)
[f. Barnum + -ize.]
To exhibit with a lavish display of puffing advertisements. Barnumism, exaggerated advertising or display, boastful ‘tall talk.’
| 1851 W. B. Hodgson in Life vi. (1883) 87 Barnumised and puffed as Napoleon has been, he is not popular. 1852 Blackw. Mag. LXXII. 307 Barnumizing the prodigy through Europe. 1862 Daily Tel. 20 Oct., It is Barnumism that prompts clergymen to tell their flocks that they must fight the Confederates till Hell freezes, and then fight them on the ice. |