trumpery

trumpery, n. (a.)
  (ˈtrʌmpərɪ)
  Forms: 5–6 trompery(e, (6 tromperey, troumperie, trumprie), 6–7 tromp-, trumperie, 6– trumpery.
  [a. F. tromperie (14th c. in Godef. Compl.), f. tromper trump v.²: see -ery 1.]
  † 1. Deceit, fraud, imposture, trickery. Obs.

1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 226 Sa that thare be na trompery. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 141 They concordit alltogither in trumperie and fallsit. 1677 Gale Crt. Gentiles II. iii. 78 Their Ethics were but false or..imperfect ideas of Vertues..their politics were but carnal and so false reasons of State..and therefore stiled in the Scripture tromperie, deceit, and lies. 1847 Disraeli Tancred ii. iv, Irish Papists denouncing the whole movement as fraud and trumpery.

pl. 1481 Caxton Godeffroy clxiii. 241 His fayr wordes full of tromperyes and deceytes. 1598 Dallington Meth. Trav. H j b, He left none of his trumperies and double dealings vnreuealed. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. vii. xii. 362 He runnes into corners, exercising minor trumperies, and acting his deceits in Witches, Magicians, Diviners. 1687 R. L'Estrange Brief Hist. Times i. 140 How was the Justice of the Nation, Abus'd, and Impos'd upon by the Trumperies of Confederacy.

  2. ‘Something of less value than it seems’; hence, ‘something of no value; trifles’ (J.); worthless stuff, trash, rubbish. (Usually collective sing.; also, now rarely, pl.) a. Applied to material objects (see also c, d, e).

1531 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) V. 324 A tub, a hogeshed w{supt} other trumperie, viij d. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iv. 608, I haue sold all my Tromperie: not a counterfeit Stone, not a Ribbon, Glasse, Pomander, Browch..to keepe my Pack from fasting. 1789 Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France, etc. II. 353 A heap of trumpery fit to furnish out the shop of a Westminster pawnbroker. 1807 W. Irving Salmag. vi. (1824) 90 An abundance of trumpery and rubbish, with which the house is encumbered,..every room, and closet, and corner, is crammed with three-legged chairs, clocks without hands, swords without scabbards [etc.].

pl. a 1618 Raleigh Invent. Shipping 41 Silver, Cut works, Cambricks, and a world of other trumperyes. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xliv, Drawers and cupboards crammed with the dirty relics and congregated trumperies of a couple of generations of Lady Crawleys.

  b. Applied to abstract things, as beliefs, practices, discourse, writing, etc.: Nonsense, ‘rubbish’.

1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 287 For gif fulis..be sa daft that thai wage bataill for lytill, evyn as to say..that he dauncis or syngis better na he dois, or for syk maner of tromperyis. 1578 Lyte Dodoens iii. lx. 401 The blacke spottes growing on the backside of the leaues [of ‘male fern’: cf. fern-seed]..some do gather thinking to worke wonders, but to say the trueth, it is nothing els but trumperie and superstition. 1693 Dryden Juvenal vi. 191 With all their Trumpery of Charms. 1726 De Foe Hist. Devil i. ii. (1840) 23 All the metaphysical trumpery of the schools. 1846 D. Jerrold Mrs. Caudle's Curt. Lect. viii, I'd put an end to free-masonry and all such trumpery.

  c. Applied contemptuously to religious practices, ceremonies, ornaments, etc. regarded as idle or superstitious. (Cf. trinket n.¹ 3.) Now rare or merged in general sense.

1542–5 Brinklow Lament. 15 b, Pardons, and other of their tromperye, hath bene bought and solde. 1566 in Peacock Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866) 95 Banner clothes, crosse clothes, with the rest of the trash as vestments albes and such lik tromperie—wear defacid..by the said churchwardens. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 475 Embryos, and Idiots, Eremits and Friers White, Black and Grey, with all thir trumperie. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters III. 12 This City is famed for..reliques of saints, and such like holy trumpery. 1824 Southey Bk. of Ch. (1841) 267 St. Francis, St. Dominic, and their fellows, must dislodge with all their trumpery.

pl. 1548 Luther's Art. Faith Pref. A v, Our juglynge tromperies. 1625 Purchas Pilgrims ix. vii. §i. 1487 Wearied with the trumperies of the Religion of Mahumet. 1704 J. Pitts Acc. Mohammetans vi. (1738) 55 They blame the Papists for having so many Trumperies in their Churches.

  d. Showy but unsubstantial apparel; worthless finery.

1610 Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 186 The trumpery in my house, goe bring it hither For stale to catch these theeues. 1801 M. Edgeworth Out of Debt iii, ‘You have brought me to the gallows, and all for this trumpery’, cried he, snatching her gaudy hat from her head. 1851 C. Brontë in Mrs. Gaskell Life (1857) 364 It would be no shame for a person of my means to wear a cheaper thing;..if you..call it ‘trumpery’ so much the worse.

  e. Gardening. Weeds or refuse, such as hinder the growth of valuable plants. Obs. exc. dial.

1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 214 Broom, Furze, Heath, and other suchlike trumpery, that delight only in barren Lands. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 387 Finish your last Weeding, and cleanse your Garden of Trumpery. 1758 R. Brown Compl. Farmer ii. (1760) 30 It occasions its running to May-weed, and other trumpery. 1888 in Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk.

  f. Applied to a person, esp. a woman: cf. trash n.¹ 4. ? Obs. exc. dial.

1738 Swift Pol. Conversat. iii. 195 For Want of Company, welcome Trumpery. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xxi, Out, I say;..tramp, thou infamous strumpet... What! you trumpery, to come and take up an honest house without cross or coin to bless yourself with! 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xviii, Get out wid ye, ye trumpery—I won't have ye round!

  B. attrib. or adj. Of little or no value; trifling, paltry, insignificant; worthless, rubbishy, trashy.

1576 Fleming Caius' Dogs (1880) 16 A Hare.. was seene..playing with his former feete vppon a tabbaret... This is no trumpery tale, nor trifling toye. 1748 H. Walpole Lett. (1845) II. 229 Mr. Ashurst..has built a trumpery new house. 1781 ― Let. to W. Mason 14 Apr., Dr. Johnson's ‘Life of Pope’..is a most trumpery performance. 1810 Scott Let. to Miss J. Baillie 23 Nov., in Lockhart, I hope you will set some value upon this little trumpery brooch, because it is..a Scotch harp, and set with Iona stones. 1865 M. Arnold Ess. Crit. viii. (1875) 323 The accents of a trumpery rhetorician. 1869 Trollope He knew, etc. xvi, It seems a trumpery quarrel,—as to who should beg each other's pardon first.

  Hence ˈtrumperiness.

1868 A. K. H. Boyd Less. Mid. Age 271 How these things impress the lover of Gothic who dwells in a country of churches of inexpressible trumperiness and shabbiness!

Oxford English Dictionary