{
    "system": "GoGuides Verified Text",
    "api_version": "verified-text-v1",
    "status": "ok",
    "response_type": "verified_text_record",
    "source_key": "britannica_1911",
    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)",
    "license_code": "public_domain",
    "attribution": null,
    "license_url": null,
    "chunk_id": "1911:humbug:95c8be8b210e",
    "title": "HUMBUG",
    "section": null,
    "hash_alg": "sha256",
    "hash_sha256": "199ead653b213827106e08d6cef53f9d60946da8a506d81a183085e5b46e1cb0",
    "normalizer": {
        "name": "ggnorm",
        "version": "1.0"
    },
    "verified_text": "humbug, an imposture, sham, fraud. the word seems to have been originally applied to a trick or hoax, and appears as a slang term about 1750. according to the _new english dictionary_, ferdinando killigrew's _the universal jester_, which contains the word in its sub-title \"a choice collection of many conceits ... bonmots and humbugs,\" was published in 1754, not, as is often stated, in 1735-1740. the principal passage in reference to the introduction of the word occurs in _the student_, 1750-1751, ii. 41, where it is called \"a word very much in vogue with the people of taste and fashion.\" the origin appears to have been unknown at that date. skeat connects it (_etym. dict._ 1898) with \"hum,\" to murmur applause, hence flatter, trick, cajole, and \"bug,\" bogey, spectre, the word thus meaning a false alarm. many fanciful conjectures have been made, e.g. from irish _uim-bog_, soft copper, worthless as opposed to sterling money; from \"hamburg,\" as the centre from which false coins came into england during the napoleonic wars; and from the italian _uomo bugiardo_, lying man.",
    "source_url": "https://archive.org/details/EB1911WMF",
    "observed_at": "2026-02-08 18:43:04",
    "integrity": {
        "hash_check": "match",
        "hash_scope": "full_normalized_text",
        "computed_sha256": "199ead653b213827106e08d6cef53f9d60946da8a506d81a183085e5b46e1cb0"
    },
    "machine_use": {
        "read": true,
        "cite": true,
        "decision": "verified_public_domain_text"
    },
    "goguides_data_license": "https://www.goguides.com/data-license",
    "goguides_data_license_version": "2.0",
    "documentation": {
        "white_paper_url": "https://www.goguides.com/white-paper.php",
        "pdf_url": "https://www.goguides.com/whitepapers/goguides-ai-source-clearance-white-paper.pdf"
    }
}