ballyhoo, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

ballyhoo n.

[carnival and fairground jargon ballyhoo, a barker’s speech or a performance given outside the actual attraction, both aimed at touting the attraction itself. (Also used when musicians attract an audience by playing a few free songs outside the venue). The ety. remains obscure; some of the theories, as cited in Mencken, The American Language (3rd edn, 1936), include f. Gaelic bailinghadh, collect (pron. ballyhoo); the predominantly Irish fairground touts of the mid-19C shouted ‘Bailinghadh anois!’ (‘Collection now!’) when they passed the hat for payment; f. the cod Arabic cry b’Allah hoo, ‘through God it is’, used by the ‘dervishes’ in the Oriental Village sited at the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893; a comb. of SE ballet + whoop. Note 19C naut. jargon ballyhoo of blazes, a term of contempt for an unpopular vessel]

1. rubbish, nonsense, empty praise; a fuss.

[1901		World’s Work Aug. 1100/2: First there is the ballyhoo — any sort of a performance outside the show, from the coon songs of the pickaninnies in front of the Old Plantation, to the tinkling tambourines of the dancers on the stage of ‘Around the World’].
1911		L. Chevalier ‘Getting into Society’ Variety Stage Eng. Plays 🌐 Why this melodious ballyhoo on the street?
1914		Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Sl. 16: bally hoo [...] Current amongst exhibition and ‘flat-joint’ grafters. A free entertainment used for a decoy to attract customers.
[1920		T. Thursday ‘Fall of the Wise’ in Top-Notch 1 Apr. 🌐 I want some fellow to get up on that ballyhoo and tell the folks what a great, grand, and glorious show we got on the inside].
1921		Washington Times (DC) 9 Sept. 7/4e: Of course, you and I know that evil stuff was nothing but a lot of ballyhoo.
1924		E. Pound letter 3 Dec. in Paige (1971) 191: Wait till you see the text, and if you approve, or if it starts you, I shd. be glad to try either to make Bird print ’em, or to get some other sort of ballyhoo in action on the matter.
1931		E. Dalton When the Daltons Rode in Hamilton (1952) 102: They were the fruits of [...] Wild West showmanship and ballyhoo.
1942		P. Wylie Generation of Vipers 258: If the peacemakers had used their ballyhoo and their advertising space to point out the piling tide of the sins of individual Americans [...] the campaign might have had a powerful effect upon humanity.
1946		S. Jackson Indiscreet Guide to Soho 60: A success story [...] without the sex appeal, sob stuff or ballyhoo.
1952		Lait & Mortimer USA Confidential 254: Virginia was served with much ballyhoo in September, but was saved six months to ‘hypo’ the last act.
1960		A. Seymour One Day of the Year (1977) II iii: Anzacs. (Shakes his head.) Ballyhoo. Photos in the papers. Famous. Not worth a crumpet.
1975		J. Ryan Remembering How We Stood 72: The trouble about this kind of ballyhoo is that the recipient begins to believe in it himself.
1989		S. Armitage ‘Ivory’ Zoom 74: No more blab [...] or ballyhoo / Or balderdash.
1999		Guardian 9 Nov. 4: Just when the ballyhoo over the soiled sheets, used condoms [...] was dying down, Emin has decided to show the world her ‘gorgeous breasts’.
2008		Financial Times 25 Aug. 8/2: For all the ballyhoo, 2012’s organisers may benefit from the Chinese example.
2014		J. Porter ‘Good Luck in Puerto del Oro’ in ThugLit July [ebook] I sidestepped the arms of the general brawl and ballyhoo.

2. (US) a fight.

1919

A. Baer Two and Three 27 Jan. [synd. col.] The ballyhoo resembles two steamrollers crazy with the heat [...] a blizzard of busted teeth comes sailing out of the ring.

3. (US) an upper-class person.

1922

T. Thursday ‘Ten Dollars – No Sense’ in Top-Notch 15 Dec. 🌐 There’s a bird coming down the other side of the street dressed up like a complete ballyhoo.