Usage 1: The plural is "furphies" and no verb or adjective has sprung from today's noun although you may use the word itself as either one (I'm not furphying you). It is a noun that was commonized from a proper noun (see Etymology) and hence it is now spelled with a lower case "f."

Suggested usage: yourDictionary is constantly on guard for words and phrases to help anyone seriously trying to kick the profanity habit. Today's word is a reliable patch: "No furphy, I'm telling the truth," sounds much better than the alternative. You may also give "scuttlebutt" a rest around the office: "The furphy flying around the office is that the boss is having an affair with some 'Miss Givens.' Do you know what that is all about?"

Etymology: The eponym of today's word is John Furphy, a wheelwright in Shepparton, Victoria, who moved onward and upward to manufacture the famous Furphy Farm Water Carts, that were converted to military use during the First World War. These water carts were the Australian military equivalent of the civilian water cooler, the gossip nexus on the front. The men who drove these carts from camp to camp during the war delivered as much questionable news and gossip as water. (For more on the Furphy water cart see: http://www.furphys.com.au/wcinfo.html. It is no furphy that Peter McCrossin, our hyper-reliable Australian friend, clued us in on today's word.)