Balderdash

n. [A case of onomatopœia; according to Malone, it probably signified, in its primary sense, the froth or foam made by barbers in dashing their bulls backward and forward in hot water, and afterward it seemed to denote a mixture of liquors. “They would no more live under the yoke of the sea, or have their heads washed with his bubbly spume or barber’s balder-dash.” Nashe, Lenten Stuffe. But compare also W. baldorduss, a prattling, baldordd, baldorddi, to prattle.]

1Sense 1. A worthless mixture, especially bad mixed liquor.

Indeed beer, by a mixture of wine, hath lost both name and nature, and is called balderdash. Taylor, Drink and Welcome.

2Sense 2. A senseless jargon of words; ribaldry; nonsense; trash. Horne’s Trial.