[mod.Fr.; orig. unknown. According to Litt. first used in 18th c.; referred by some to Gr. ἀμφί about + γῦρος circle, or -ἀγορία speech, cf. allegory, category.] A burlesque writing filled with nonsense; a composition without sense, as a Latin ‘nonsense-verse.’
1809. Q. Rev., I. 50. The work must … be considered as a kind of overgrown amphigouri, a heterogeneous combination of events.
1851. Sir F. Palgrave, Norm. & Eng., II. 55. We do not like to confess we are beaten even by an amphigourī nonsense verse.
1869. N. & Q., Ser. IV. III. 145. The remaining verses … of the following amphigory.
