Link Centre Dictionary

bog

UK/bɑɡ/ US/bɔɡ/ fairly common informal slang uk us
noun (1) verb (2)

noun

1.

wet spongy ground of decomposing vegetation; has poorer drainage than a swamp; soil is unfit for cultivation but can be cut and dried and used for fuel

Synonyms

verb

1.

cause to slow down or get stuck

  • “The vote would bog down the house”
Synonyms
2.

get stuck while doing something

  • “She bogged down many times while she wrote her dissertation”
Synonyms

Origin

Inherited from Middle English bog (originally chiefly in Ireland and Scotland), from Irish and Scottish Gaelic bogach (“soft, boggy ground”), from Old Irish bog (“soft”), from Proto-Celtic *buggos (“soft, tender”) + Old Irish -ach, from Proto-Celtic *-ākos. The frequent use to form compounds regarding the animals and plants in such areas mimics Irish compositions such as bog-luachair (“bulrush, bogrush”). Its use for toilets is now often derived from the resemblance of latrines and outhouse cesspools to bogholes, but the noun sense appears to be a clipped form of boghouse (“outhouse, privy”), which derived (possibly via boggard) from the verb to bog, still used in Australian English. The derivation and its connection to other senses of "bog" remains uncertain, however, owing to an extreme lack of early citations due to its perceived vulgarity.

Phrases

  • blanket bog
  • bog asphodel
  • bog beacon
  • bog bean
  • bog berry
  • bog bilberry
  • bog blueberry
  • bog body
  • bog down
  • bog in
  • bog into
  • bog off

Related words

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.