▪ I. boggard1, -art
(ˈbɒgəd, -ət)
Also 6 buggard, 8 bag-.
[A word in popular use in Westmoreland, Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire, and the north midlands, and of occasional appearance in literature since c 1570. Evidently related to boggle, bogle, and bog n.2: if the status of the last-named were more assured, it would be natural to see in bogg-ard a derivative with the augmentative suffix -ard; or if the occasional variant buggard could be assumed as the etymological form, it might stand in the same relation to bug. See bogle.]
1. A spectre, goblin, or bogy; in dialectal use, esp. a local goblin or sprite supposed to ‘haunt’ a particular gloomy spot, or scene of violence.
| 1570 Levins Manip. 30 A Boggarde, spectrum. c 1730 Burt Lett. N. Scotl. (1818) I. 227 All that quarter of England is infested with boggarts of all sorts. 1821 Mrs. Wheeler Westmorld. Dial. 39 Sic a terrable boggart as I beleev nivver onny yan saa befoar. 1855 Whitby Gloss., Boggle, Boggart, a fearful object, a hobgoblin. 1857 in Bohn Handbk. Proverbs 152 He thinks every bush a boggard. |
b. fig. A bugbear, a source of dread.
| 1575 Brieff Disc. Troubl. Franckford (1846) 160 Nor be such buggarddes to the poor, yff they may not beare the bagge alone. 1616 Rollocke's Hist. Passion 132 (Jam.) Hell is but a boggarde to scarre children. |
† 2. An object real or imaginary at which a horse shies or ‘boggles’. Obs.
| 1617 Markham Caval. ii. xii. 112 How to correct a horse that is skittish, and fearefull and findeth many boggards. 1639 De Grey Compl. Horsem. 28 The horse will..stare and see boggards in his keepers face. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. II. s.v. Horses, It betrays a weak, slight and unnecessary Starting, or finding of Baggards. [1863 Standard 1 Jan., When a horse takes fright at some object unobserved by its master the vulgar opinion is that it has seen the boggart.] |
▪ II. † ˈboggard2 Obs.
[f. bog v.3]
A privy.
| 1552 Huloet, Siege, jacques, bogard, or draught, latrina. 1628 Shirley Witty Fair iv. vi. 1647 Ward Simp. Cobler 76 He [the Devil] thought it wisdome to keep the land [Ireland] for a Boggards for his unclean spirits. |