Etymology

First attested from 1797, as underworld term for counterfeit coins. Meaning of the machine (known as a bogus press) was first attested 1828. Sense of phony paper money as well as a general adjective applied to anything, being less valuable than it first appeared was first attested 1848. Later, the word was applied to anything of poor quality. The current use to mean useless is probably from the slang of computer hackers.

The origin is unknown, but there are at least two theories that try to trace its origin:

• From Hausa boko, to fake. Since bogus first appeared in the USA, this may be possible that its ancestor was brought there on a slave ship.
• From criminal slang as a short form of tantrabogus, a 19th century slang term for a menacing object, making some believe that bogus might be linked to bogy or bogey (see bogeyman).

Adjective

bogus

1. Counterfeit or fake; not genuine.
   • 1. Undesirable or harmful.
        • “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”, 1982

          So what Jefferson was saying was "Hey! You know, we left this England place because it was bogus. So if we don't get some cool rules ourselves, pronto, we'll just be bogus too."

     2. Incorrect, useless, or broken.
     3. a totally fictitious issue printed for collectors, often issued on behalf of a non-existent territory or country (not to be confused with forgery, which is an illegitimate copy of a genuine stamp).
     4. Based on false or misleading information or unjustified assumptions.

        bogus laws

     
     

     Synonyms

     • (counterfeit): counterfeit, fake, phony
     • (incorrect): incorrect, useless, broken
     • (stamp-collecting) illegal
     • See also Wikisaurus:fake