Green’s Dictionary of Slang

rubbish! nonsense!

1829		C. MacFarlane Constantinople in 1828 283: You must not even slit the Karata’s ears! Bosh! Bosh!* [note]* Bosh means nonsense, stuff.
1835		Metropolitan Mag. May-Aug. 162: ‘What is all this but bosh, nothing?’ said he [...] ‘Bosh!’ muttered Mustapha.
1851		Tait’s Edinburgh Mag. Jan-Dec. 333/2: ‘These I got from the old lady, and this rose I got from the young one.’ ‘Bosh!’ ‘It’s not bosh.’.
1853		Dickens Bleak House (1991) 296: Bosh! It’s all correct. You needn’t be afraid to order the pipe.
1854		Delhi Sketch Bk 1 Aug. 94: [cartoon caption] Oh bosh! Never you mind! I’ll arrange matters.
1857		Bell’s Life in Victoria (Melbourne) 10 Oct. 2/1: ‘Bosh!’ ejaculates the man on ’Change.
1868		‘Parliamentary Vade Mecum’ in Sydney Punch 14 Mar. 8/1: Interjections [...] Bosh!
1869		‘Mark Twain’ Innocents Abroad 205: People say that Tahoe means ‘Silver Lake’ [...] Bosh. It means grasshopper soup.
1873		W.H. Thomes Bushrangers 379: Bosh! don’t talk in that way. We are not to be blarneyed by such as you.
1887		W.S. Gilbert ‘Sir Macklin’ Fifty ‘Bab’ Ballads 48: ‘Oh, bosh!’ the worthy Bishop said.
1894		Coburg Leader (Vic.) 24 Nov. 2/4: The Lyndhurst captain said ‘I will toss, but if I lose, our team will play under protest.’ — Bosh.
1895		W. Le Queux Temptress 65: Friendly advice — bosh!
1895		‘’Arry on Harry’’ in Punch 24 Aug. 90/1: But when you suggest as the ‘aitch’ makes a ’a’porth o’ difference — Bosh!
1900		Boy’s Own Paper 1 Dec. 137: Bosh!
1901		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ In Bad Company 262: A gentleman! Bosh!
1916		W. Pett Ridge Madame Prince 57: The other side did justice to its principles by [...] writing the simple word, ‘Bosh!’.
1922		‘Sapper’ Black Gang 385: Coincidence? Bosh! [...] It’s a certainty.
1931		A. Bennett Teresa of Watling Street 199: He said ‘Bosh!’.
1938		X. Herbert Capricornia (1939) 68: Bosh! Mark hasn’t got a — a halfcaste.
1940		D. Maurer Big Con 239: Bosh [...] anyone can swindle a sucker.
1949		Kerouac letter 29 March in Charters I (1995) 186: Lana Turner and me? bosh!
1999		Observer Mag. 25 July 16: Bosh, who cares?