codswallop [M20th] Meaning ‘nonsense or drivel’, codswallop seems to be a fairly recent addition to English, with the earliest recorded use appearing in a 1959 script for the radio and TV comedy Hancock’s Half Hour. It is sometimes said that the word comes from the name of Hiram Codd, who in the 1870s invented a bottle for fizzy drinks, although the evidence for this is sketchy. The wallop part may relate to the word’s use as a 1930s slang term for beer or other alcoholic drink.