stuff and nonsense

English

Noun

stuff and nonsense (uncountable)

1. rubbish, foolishness, poppycock
   • 1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XL, in Adam Bede […], volumes (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:

     "Stuff and nonsense!" said Bartle, forgetting in his irritation to whom he was speaking. "I beg your pardon, sir, I mean it's stuff and nonsense for the innocent to care about her being hanged. […] "

   • 1865 November (indicated as 1866), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], chapter 12, in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC:

     “It’s a pun!” the King added in an angry tone, and everybody laughed.¶ “Let the jury consider their verdict,” the King said, for about the twentieth time that day.¶ “No, no!” said the Queen. “Sentence first—verdict afterwards.”¶ “Stuff and nonsense!” said Alice loudly. “The idea of having the sentence first!”

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 177:

     "This is all stuff and nonsense," said the king; "I shall have to go myself, if we are to get this confounded whistle from him."

   • 1908 June, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, chapter XXVI, in Anne of Green Gables, Boston, Mass.: L[ouis] C[oues] Page & Company, published August 1909 (11th printing), →OCLC:

     "I wrote it last Monday evening. It's called 'The Jealous Rival; or In Death Not Divided.' I read it to Marilla and she said it was stuff and nonsense. Then I read it to Matthew and he said it was fine. That is the kind of critic I like. […] "

   • 1913, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Poison Belt‎^[1]:

     "Stuff and nonsense!" cried Summerlee again with quite unnecessary violence.

Synonyms

• See: Thesaurus:nonsense