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Meaning

curtly, flatly

Turning down a request or proposal so bluntly that there is nothing left to hold on to.

Example

企画を持ち込んだが、部長にけんもほろろに断られた。

I brought the proposal to the department head and was flatly turned down.

Origin

Both ken and hororo are said to be the cry of the pheasant, and one theory holds that hororo is the sound of its wings. The ken is said to play on the harshness of kendon (慳貪, stingy and cold) and kentsuku (剣突, a sharp rebuke). An early example appears in the Amakusa edition of Isoho Monogatari (Aesop's Fables) of 1593.

Sources