The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

ballyhoo \bal"ly*hoo\ v. t. [imp. & p. p. ballyhooed; p. pr. &
   vb. n. ballyhooing.]
   to advertize or publicize noisily or blatantly.
   [WordNet 1.5]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

ballyhoo \bal"ly*hoo\ n.
   noisy or blatant advertizing or publicity.
   [WordNet 1.5]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

ballyhoo
    n 1: blatant or sensational promotion [syn: ballyhoo,
         hoopla, hype, plug]
    v 1: advertize noisily or blatantly

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

125 Moby Thesaurus words for "ballyhoo":
   PR, advertise, aggrandize, aggrandizement, amplification, amplify,
   bark, big talk, bill, blowing up, blurb, boost, bright light,
   build up, bulletin, burlesque, caricature, carry too far,
   celebrity, circularize, common knowledge, cry, cry up, currency,
   daylight, dilatation, dilation, draw the longbow, eclat,
   enhancement, enlargement, establish, exaggerate, exaggerating,
   exaggeration, excess, exorbitance, expansion, exposure,
   extravagance, extreme, fame, famousness, give a write-up,
   give publicity, glare, go to extremes, grandiloquence, heightening,
   herald, hoopla, huckstering, hue and cry, hyperbole, hyperbolism,
   hyperbolize, inflation, inordinacy, lay it on, limelight,
   magnification, magnify, make much of, maximum dissemination,
   notoriety, overcharge, overdo, overdraw, overemphasis,
   overestimate, overestimation, overkill, overpraise, overreach,
   overreact, oversell, overspeak, overstate, overstatement,
   overstress, patter, pile it on, pitch, placard, plug, post,
   post bills, post up, press notice, press-agent, prodigality,
   profuseness, promote, public eye, public knowledge,
   public relations, public report, publicity, publicity story,
   publicize, publicness, puff, puffery, puffing up, reclame, report,
   sales pitch, sales talk, sell, sensationalism, spiel, spotlight,
   stretch, stretch the truth, stretching, superlative, talk big,
   talk in superlatives, tall talk, tout, touting, travesty, trumpet,
   write up, write-up