SPURIOUS • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Spurious

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/spjˈʊriəs/ /spˈəriəs/ Listen

adjective

Spurious adj.

Not proceeding from the true source, or from the source pretended; not genuine; counterfeit; false; adulterate.

Not legitimate; bastard; as, spurious issue. "Her spurious firstborn."

Spurious primary, or Spurious quill (Zool.), the first, or outer, primary quill when rudimentary or much reduced in size, as in certain singing birds.

Spurious wing (Zool.), the bastard wing, or alula.

Synonyms: Counterfeit; false; adulterate; supposititious; fictitious; bastard.

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Etymology of 'Spurious'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Spurious" Quotes from Famous Books

... though he knew not the true from the false, expended all his wealth in purchasing mere imitations of the lightning-stick of Tchew-Koung, a glazed cup of the time of the Emperor Cheun, and the mat of Confucius; and being reduced to beggary, he carried these spurious relics about with him, and said to the people in the streets, "Sirs, I pray you, give me some coins struck ...

— The Book of Noodles - Stories Of Simpletons; Or, Fools And Their Follies • W. A. Clouston

... all sorts of uncomfortable suspicions crossed his mind; the rascals might be up-stairs waiting for a quiet opportunity to shoot down at him, or they might be under the small stoop on which he stood, and preparing to fire up at him. They might be quietly burning their spurious money up-stairs, so as to destroy the evidence against them; they might be in ...

— Romance of California Life • John Habberton

... now!" says I. "Old Idaho do that! I could believe it of myself, sooner. I never knew but one thing to deride in him; and a blizzard was responsible for that. Once while we was snow-bound in the mountains he became a prey to a kind of spurious and uneven poetry, which may have ...

— Heart of the West • O. Henry

... retorts and striking anecdotes are careless of truth. Louis XIV. does seem to have had a natural gift of making brilliant compliments and happy impromptus; and yet the very best of his reputed mots were spurious. Some may be traced to Cicero, Hierocles, Diogenes; and some to his modern predecessors. That witty remark ascribed to him about the disposition of Fortune, as being a lady, to withdraw her favours from old men like himself ...

— The Posthumous Works of Thomas De Quincey, Vol. 1 (2 vols) • Thomas De Quincey

... contains a satirical allusion to the luxury of the popish clergy, while the second, which makes an apparently light reference to "seven bairns", is actually concerned with the seven sacraments, five of which were the spurious offspring of ...

— Book of Old Ballads • Selected by Beverly Nichols

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