Brewer's: Bogus

Bogus currency. Forged or sham bills. Bogus transactions. Fraudulent transactions. The word is by some connected with bogie.

Lowell (Biglow Papers) says, “I more than suspect the world to be a corruption of the French bagasse. ” In French argot is another word (bogue), the rind of a green chestnut, or case of a watch; a bogus chestnut or watch.

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