▪ I. bog, n.1
(bɒg)
Forms: 6–7 bogg, bogge, 7 boghe, 6– bog.
[ad. Ir. or Gael. bogach a bog, f. bog soft, used in composition in the sense of ‘bog’, as bog-luachair bulrush. In Scotland apparently from Gaelic, in England from Irish.]
I. 1. a. A piece of wet spongy ground, consisting chiefly of decayed or decaying moss and other vegetable matter, too soft to bear the weight of any heavy body upon its surface; a morass or moss.
| c 1505 Dunbar Of James Dog 15 Chassand cattell through a bog. a 1552 Leland Brit. Coll. (1774) II. 545 They..fledde alle, and levyng theyr Horses, tooke the Marresis, or Bogges. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iii. vii. 61 They that ride so..fall into foule Boggs. 1611 Speed Theat. Gt. Brit. (1614) 143/1 Certain places [of Ireland]..which of their softnesse are usually termed Boghes. 1631 Star Chamb. Cases (1886) 34 The Country of Ireland is full of boggs on the ground and mists in the aire. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 592 That Serbonian Bog Betwixt Damiata and mount Casius old, Where Armies whole have sunk. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The inconveniences of Bogs are..that they are a great destruction to cattle: they are also a shelter to Tories and Thieves. 1810 Scott Lady of L. iii. xiii, The trembling bog and false morass. 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 325 These bogs are included under the general designation of the Bog of Allen. |
b. (without
pl.) Bog-land, boggy soil.
| a 1687 Petty Pol. Arith. (1690) 2 Bog may by draining be made Meadow. 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 269 A large extent of hill pasture, moor, and bog. 1861 Times 29 Aug., Long brown gaps of stagnant-looking bog, where the piles of neatly-cut turf were stacked out in rough black cones. |
c. fig. (
Cf. ‘fog’.)
| 1614 Bp. King Vitio Palat. 30 Quagmires and bogges of Romish superstition. 1787 Burns To Miss Ferrier iii, Last day my mind was in a bog. 1840 C. Dickens Barn. Rudge (1849) 331/1 He wandered out again, in a perfect bog of uncertainty. 1878 Morley Diderot I. 331 The Serbonian bog of dramatic rules. |
II. attrib. and
Comb. 2. General comb., as
bog-black adj. bog-bred adj.;
bog-hay,
bog-peat,
bog-pit,
bog-plant,
bog-stalker,
bog-turf,
bog-water,
bog-way.
| 1953 Dylan Thomas Under Milk Wood (1954) 48 The lickerish *bog-black tea. |
| 1850 Marg. Fuller Wom. 19th C. (1862) 324 Because that *bog-bred youth..tells you lies. |
| 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 222 In general *bog hay..is about one third inferior in quality to that from sown grass. |
| 1743 Ellis Mod. Husb. III. i. 113 In a low Meadow..there is a Peat dug called *Bog-peat. 1958 New Biol. XXVI. 91 Peat is of two main types (with intermediates): (1) fen peat..(2) bog peat formed under acid conditions. |
| 1820 Scott Abbot xvi, The kelpie must flit from the black *bog-pit. |
| 1854 S. Thomson Wild Fl. iii. (1861) 138 Our common *bog-plants. |
| a 1758 Ramsay Poems (1800) II. 338 Ill-bred *bog stalker. |
| 1847 E. Brontë Wuthering Heights II. xiv. 280 The *bog-water got into her head, and she would have run home, quite flighty, but I fixed her. 1866 Carlyle Remin. I. 205 A gush of bog-water. |
| 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. iii. (ed. 12) 12 Before coming to the black *bog-way. |
3. In many names of plants growing in bogs: as
bog asphodel,
bog cinquefoil,
bog pimpernel, etc.;
bog bean,
bog nut,
bog trefoil, also called buckbean;
bog berry, the Cranberry;
bog moss, various species of Sphagnum, by the growth and decay of which bogs are chiefly formed;
bog myrtle, Sweet Gale (
Myrica Gale);
bog onion: see
onion n. 2 b;
bog orchis,
Malaxis paludosa;
bog pink, Lady's Smock (
Cardamine pratensis);
bog rush,
Schœnus nigricans; also
U.S., a plant of the genus
Juncus;
bog violet = butterwort (
Pinguicula).
| 1881 G. Allen in Academy 13 Aug. 113/3 A little marsh..made room for *bog-asphodel. |
| 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xvi. 176 Marsh Trefoil, Buckbean or *Bogbean will discover itself to you immediately. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown i, What the bog-bean and wood-sage are good for. 1858 E. Twining Lect. Plants 345 Our marsh Bog-bean which I described to you as an intensely bitter herb. |
| 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. 297/1 *Bogberries, Vaccinium. 1892 J. Barlow Irish Idylls viii. 217 She made a feint of looking for bogberries. |
| 1785 Martyn tr. Rousseau's Bot. xxxii. 493 Sphagnum, or *Bog-moss, has the capsule covered with a lid. 1840 [see sphagnum]. 1959 J. Clegg Freshwater Life (ed. 2) iii. 63 Of the mosses, the most important are the species of Bog Mosses (Sphagnum)..which form soft carpets of vegetation in the damp areas. |
| 1884 Queen Victoria More Leaves 290 Bonnets with a black cock's tail and *bog-myrtle. |
| 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. 315/1 Rush, Round black-headed, Marsh or *Bog, Schœnus. 1843 J. Torrey N.Y. Nat. Hist. Surv.: Flora II. 325 Juncus effusus..Bog-rush. 1855 Lesser Bog Rush [see rush n.1 4 a]. 1898 C. M. Yonge John Keble's Parishes xvi. 231 Bogrush (L. campestris).—Little rush. |
4. Special comb.:
bog-blitter,
-bluiter,
-bumper, provincial names of the Bittern;
bog-butter, a fatty hydrocarbon found in the peat-bogs of Ireland;
bog-deal = bog-pine;
bog-down, Cotton-grass (
Eriophorum);
bog-earth, earth composed of, or largely mixed with, peat;
bog fir = bog pine;
bog-garden, a piece of ground laid out and irrigated to grow plants whose habitat is bog-land and a peaty soil;
bog-hole, a natural hole with a swampy bottom;
bog iron,
bog iron ore, a brittle, porous variety of brown hæmatite found in bogs;
bog-jumper, (
local) the Bittern;
bog-land, marshy land, a boggy country;
humorously, Ireland; hence
bog-lander;
bog Latin, a spurious form of Latin;
cf. dog-Latin; also
= shelta;
bog manganese (see
quot.);
† bog-mine,
bog-mine-ore,
bog ore = bog iron ore;
† bog-mire, a quagmire;
bog-mould = bog-earth;
bog oak, the wood of oak preserved in a black state in peat-bogs, etc.;
bog-pine, pinewood found buried in peat-bogs;
bog-spavin, an encysted tumour on the inside of the hock of a horse;
bog-timber,
bog-wood, the trunks of trees found buried in peat-bogs.
| 1815 Scott Guy M. i, The deep cry of the *bog-blitter, or bull-of-the bog. |
| 1866 Inverness Courier 4 Jan., The bittern of British Zoology; provincially the *bog-bumper and mire-drum. |
| 1863 Watts Dict. Chem. I. 617 *Bog-butter, a fatty substance found in the peat-bogs of Ireland. |
| 1794 G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. IV. xlvii. 301 Touch the needle with a piece of *bog-down, or a cork ball. 1865 Pall Mall G. 24 Oct. 5 Cloth made of bog-down (Anglice, cotton grass). |
| 1787–8 Botan. Mag. II. 46 Soil, a mixture of loam and *bog earth. |
| 1769 Barrington in Phil. Trans. LIX. 33 Why these *bog-firs may be found in places where there is no such tree at present. |
| 1883 W. Robinson Engl. Flower Garden p. lxiii/1 A more perfect *bog garden is made by forming a basin of brickwork and Portland cement, about one foot in depth. 1908 R. J. Farrer Alpines & Bog-plants 154 The prime..necessity of the bog-garden is the most perfect drainage. |
| 1788 G. O'Nial The Minor II. iii. iii. 14 He and his horse had bounced into a *bog-hole. 1839 ‘Mrs. M. Clavers’ New Home i. 15 Down came our good horse to the very chin in a bog-hole. 1936 P. Fleming News from Tartary iii. vi. 138 Slippery flats, pitted with bog-holes. |
| 1789 Mills in Phil. Trans. LXXX. 89 *Bog iron ore is met with in the mosses. |
| 1690 Dryden Prol. to Prophetess 31 Men without hearts, and women without hose. Each bring his love a *Bogland captive home. 1745 Ellis Mod. Husb. VI. ii. 47 A proper Plough to plow Bog lands. 1940 L. MacNeice Last Ditch 9 The night came down upon the bogland. |
| 1730–6 Bailey Dict., *Bog-Landers, a nick-name given Irish-men. 1755 W. Moffat Irish Hudib., A bunch of three-leaved grass Called by the boglanders shamrogues. |
| 1785 Grose Dict. Vulgar T., *Bog latin, (Irish) barbarous latin. 1891 [see shelta]. 1927 J. Joyce Let. 20 May (1957) 254 Dulce et decorum est prope mare sedere—boglatin for it is a sweet and seemly thing to sit down by the sea. |
| 1875 Ure Dict. Arts III. 200 Wad, or *Bog Manganese, is the old English name of the hydrated peroxide of manganese. |
| 1590 R. Payne Descr. Irel. (1841) 6 There is..greate plentie of Iron stone, and one sort more than we have in England, which they call *Bogge myne. 1762 Eliot in Phil. Trans. LIII. 56 Add some bog mine ore, which abounds with cinder. |
| 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia ii. 32 They slew my men, and tooke me prisoner in a *Bogmire. |
| 1834 Brit. Husb. I. 414 When brought to the decayed condition of *bog-mould, or rich earth. |
| 1813 M. Edgeworth Let. 24 Oct. in S. H. Romilly Romilly-Edgeworth Lett. (1936) 60 This necklace, and bracelets, are genuine Irish—made of *bog-oak—that is, of oak found in our bogs. 1857 Parsons in Phil. Trans. L. 398 This is called bog-oak, or bog deal, well known to country people in many places. 1940 L. MacNeice Last Ditch 9 Stumps of hoary bog-oak. |
| 1772 Pennant Tours Scotl. (1774) 219 That species of iron called *bog-ore. |
| 1842 S. Lover Handy Andy xxxv. 336 A torch made of *bog-pine. |
| 1631 R. Brathwait Whimzies 76 His stable is a very shop of all diseases; glanders, yellowes..*bogspavings, with a myriad more. 1802 D. P. Blaine Veterinary Art (ed. 2) 499 Bog Spavin. This is only a bursal enlargement of the mucous capsule on the inner side of the hock. |
| 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 52 These morasses are found frequently to abound with *bog-timber. |
| 1828 Scott F.M. Perth III. 107 A piece of lighted *bog-wood which he carried in a lantern. 1883 Longm. Mag. iii. 48 A generation ago the old art of carving bog-wood was revived in Dublin. |
▪ II. † bog, bogge, n.2 Obs. [Possibly a variant of bugge, bug ‘terror, bugbear’, found in 14th c.: cf. bogle, boggle, and boggard.] A bugbear, a source of dread.
to take bog: to
boggle v. 1, 2.
Cf. boggle n.1| 1527 St. Papers Hen. VIII, I. 206 Against whom..it shal not a litel conferre, that this man be a bogge. 1656 Sanderson Serm. (1689) 128 Men who make no conscience of a lye, do yet take some bog at an Oath. 1676 G. Etherege Man of Mode i. i. (1684) 5 Farewel Bogg. |
▪ III. † bog, a. (n.3) Obs. exc. dial. [Derivation unknown. In Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, etc. the dialectal form is bug, pronounced (bug).] A. adj. Blustering, bold, proud, saucy.
| 1592 Warner Alb. Eng. vii. xxxvii. (1612) 184 The Cuckooe, seeing him so bog, waxt also wondrous wroth. 1642 Rogers Naaman 18 Thy bog and bold heart to be abashed. 1691 Ray S. & E. Countr. Wds. 90 Bogge, bold, forward, sawcy. So we say, a very bog Fellow. 1693 G. Firmin Daviss' Vind. iv. 32 A bog fellow, forward to put forth himself. |
B. n. Brag, boastfulness.
dial.| 1839 C. Clark J. Noakes, &c. 3 Their bog it nuver ceases. |
▪ IV. bog, n.4 slang.
= bog-house,
latrina.
| a 1789 in J. Howard Lazarettos (1789) 181 That no dirt..be thrown out of any window, or down the bogs. 1864 Hotten Slang Dict. 79 Bog, or bog-house, a privy as distinguished from a water-closet. 1929 H. Williamson Beautiful Years xxiii. 165 His headquarters are in The Bog,..where the kids go and hide, locking themselves in when they think those cads are after them. 1959 W. Golding Free Fall i. 23 Our lodger had our upstairs, use of the stove, our tap and our bog. 1960 New Left Rev. May–June 61/1 Toilet paper in the bogs. 1962 P. Purser Peregrination 22 xv. 71 Rolls of brown bog paper. |
▪ V. bog, v.1 (
bɒg)
Also 7
bogg, 8
bogue.
[f. bog n.1] 1. trans. a. To sink, submerge, or entangle, in a bog. Also
fig.| 1641 Milton Animadv. Wks. (1851) 238 Whose profession to forsake the world..boggs them deeper into the world. 1730 T. Boston Mem. ix. 245, I mistook the way and bogued my horse through the moss beyond R. 1865 J. Ludlow Epics Mid. Ages II. 194 He is unskilled..and succeeds in bogging his cart. |
b. (passive.)
to be bogged: to be sunk and entangled in a bog or quagmire; also
= sense 2. Also with
down; chiefly
fig.| 1603 [see bogged]. 1743–7 N. Tindal Contn. Rapin's Hist. (1751) I. 136 His horse was bogged on the other side. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth I. 63 Any other horse and rider must have been instantly bogged up to the saddle-girths. 1841 Arnold Let. in Life & Corr. (1844) II. x. 304, I hope to see some of my boys and girls well bogged in the middle of Bagley Wood. 1928 Amer. Speech IV. 132 To be ‘bogged down’ or ‘mired down’ is to be mired, generally in the ‘wet valleys’ in the spring. 1953 A. Upfield Murder must Wait xii. 108 The investigation stopped when bogged down by official impatience. 1955 Times 11 May 10/3 His approach to them would not be bogged down by ‘minor points of protocol’. |
2. intr. (for
refl.) To sink and stick in a bog. Also with
down and
fig.| a 1800 Trials Sons Rob Roy (1818) 120 (Jam.) Duncan Graham in Gartmore his horse bogged; that the deponent helped some others to take the horse out of the bogg. 1900 Smithwick Evol. State 325 The animal had bogged in crossing the little creek. 1903 A. Adams Log Cowboy xii. 77 Bob Blades attempted to ride out of the river below the crossing, when his horse bogged down. 1928 Sat. Even. Post 12 May 184/2 On a clean sheet of paper he wrote the words ‘We know’, and there he bogged down. 1937 Times 22 Nov. 12/5 Congress..may bog down and do nothing. 1951 E. Taylor Game Hide-&-Seek i. iii. 70 ‘I wish Tiny and Kitty would come,’ anxious young hostesses would think when parties bogged down. |
▪ VI. † bog, v.2 Obs. [possibly related to bog a.] trans. To provoke.
| 1546 St. Papers Henry VIII, XI. 163 If you had not written to me..we had broken now, the Frenchmen bogged us so often with departing. 1553 N. Grimalde Cicero's Offices iii. (1558) 164 A frenchman whom he [Manlius Torquatus] slewe, being bogged [provocatus] by hym. |
▪ VII. bog, v.3 [A low word, scarcely found in literature, however common in coarse colloquial language. Cf. boggard2 and bog-house.] intr. To exonerate the bowels; also
trans. to defile with excrement.
▪ VIII. bog, boge early form of
bough,
bow.