bog
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: bôg
enpr: bäg
ipa: /bɔɡ/
ipa: /bɑɡ/
enpr: bäg
ipa: /bɑɡ/
enpr: bŏg
ipa: /bɒɡ/
rhymes: -ɒɡ
Forms: form: bogs
form: bogg
form: bogge
form: boghe
Etymology: 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.
Senses: examples: text: Near-synonyms: fen, slough, moor
text: They that ride so... fall into foule Boggs.
ref: 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vii], line 56:
text: Certaine... places [in Ireland]... which of their softnes are vsually tearmed Boghes.
ref: 1612, John Speed, chapter IV, in The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, volume IV, page 143:
text: Bog may by draining be made Meadow.
ref: a. 1687, William Petty, Political Arithmetick:
text: [W]e entered a region where the stream widened out and formed a considerable bog.
ref: 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
text: [Cedar Bog] is a living museum of plants that once were spread over a far wider area. It is the southernmost such alkaline bog in North America, and teachers take their classes there to study this unique natural area.[…]
ref: 1974 02, “Boys' Life”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 21:
text: You're dancing in quicksand
Why don't you watch where you're wandering?
Why don't you watch where you're stumbling?
You're wading knee deep and going in
And you may never come back again
This bog is thick and easy to get lost in
ref: 1993, “Swamp Song”, performed by Tool:
text: U-Mos: 'The swamplands of Torvus are treacherous, and can hinder you considerably. Bear this in mind as you move through the bog.'
ref: 2004 November 15, Retro Studios, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Nintendo, level/area: Main Energy Controller (Great Temple):
synonyms: marsh#Noun
swamp#Noun
mire#Noun
coordinate_terms: flood meadow
water meadow
callow
glosses: An area of decayed vegetation (particularly sphagnum moss) which forms a wet spongy ground too soft for walking.
examples: text: Bogs are acidic, nutrient poor, and have a low species diversity, whereas fens are less acidic and have higher nutrient levels and species diversity. Typically, the herbaceous layer in bogs is dominated by sphagnum moss, whereas[…]
ref: 1996, Geological Survey (U.S.), National Water Summary on Wetland Resources, →ISBN, page 214:
text: Bogs are acidic peatlands, characteristic of boreal forests and mountainous regions (Figures 9.3 and 9.4). Their hydrology is precipitation driven as bogs do not receive floodwaters from neighboring rivers and streams[…]
ref: 2016 December 19, Ralph W. Tiner, Wetland Indicators: A Guide to Wetland Formation, Identification, Delineation, Classification, and Mapping, Second Edition, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 122:
text: Bogs are acidic peatlands, while fens are non-acidic peatlands. The thick mat of dead plants forms sphagnum moss and peat, which is where we get our peat moss. Over a long period of time, the bog may fill up and a forest will grow in[…]
ref: 2019 February 19, Sincere Humphrey, Freshwater Microbiology, Scientific e-Resources, →ISBN, page 24:
synonyms: marsh#Noun
swamp#Noun
mire#Noun
coordinate_terms: flood meadow
water meadow
callow
glosses: An area of decayed vegetation (particularly sphagnum moss) which forms a wet spongy ground too soft for walking.
An acidic, chiefly rain-fed (ombrotrophic), peat-forming wetland. (Contrast an alkaline fen, and swamps and marshes.)
qualifier: wetland science
examples: text: He laughed each time a camel sank down, and he laughed as they strained and pulled and struggled to get the beast on to its clumsy feet again. So sure on sand, so clumsy in bog!
ref: 1931, Ion L. Idriess, Lasseter's Last Ride, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 101:
synonyms: marsh#Noun
swamp#Noun
mire#Noun
coordinate_terms: flood meadow
water meadow
callow
glosses: An area of decayed vegetation (particularly sphagnum moss) which forms a wet spongy ground too soft for walking.
Boggy ground.
examples: text: ...quagmires and bogges of Romish superstition...
ref: 1614, John King, Vitis Palatina, page 30:
text: Last day my mind was in a bog.
ref: a. 1796, Robert Burns, Poems & Songs, volume I:
text: He wandered out again, in a perfect bog of uncertainty.
ref: 1841, Charles Dickens, chapter LXXII, in Barnaby Rudge, page 358:
glosses: Confusion, difficulty, or any other thing or place that impedes progress in the manner of such areas.
examples: text: I'm on the bog
translation: I'm sitting on/using the toilet
english: I'm sitting on/using the toilet
text: I'm in the bog
translation: I'm in the bathroom
english: I'm in the bathroom
text: Fearing I should catch cold, they out of pity covered me warm in a Bogg-house.
ref: 1665, Richard Head et al., The English Rogue Described in the Life of Meriton Latroon, volume I:
text: ...That no dirt... be thrown out of any window, or down the bogs...
ref: a. 1789, Verses to John Howard F.R.S. on His State of Prisons and Lazarettos, published 1789, page 181:
text: Bog, or bog-house, a privy as distinguished from a water-closet.
ref: 1864, J.C. Hotten, The Slang Dictionary, page 79:
text: Our lodger had our upstairs, use of the stove, our tap, and our bog.
ref: 1959, William Golding, chapter I, in Free Fall, page 23:
glosses: A place to defecate: originally specifically a latrine or outhouse but now used for any toilet.
glosses: An act or instance of defecation.
glosses: A little elevated spot or clump of earth, roots, and grass, in a marsh or swamp.
examples: text: Damon does emphasize that great red rice should always be fluffy and never mushy like a rice bog.
ref: 2013, James Villas, Southern Fried: More Than 150 Recipes for Crab Cakes, Fried Chicken, Hush Puppies, and More, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 196:
text: I love Chicken Bog because it's one of those very regional recipes that has survived […] Don't skim or otherwise remove the fat from the stock though—it will help flavor the bog. Let the chicken cool and then pick the meat, setting it aside for the bog recipe that follows. The broth will[…]
ref: 2016 October 1, Elliott Moss, Buxton Hall Barbecue's Book of Smoke: Wood-Smoked Meat, Sides, and More, Voyageur Press, →ISBN, page 113:
text: Chicken and rice bog for their supper so she wouldn't have to cook.
ref: 2018, Ann W Phillips, Lady Of Esterbrooke:
glosses: Chicken bog.
Synonyms: sense: wet spongy areas or ground
word: swamp
sense: any place or thing that impedes progress
word: mire
sense: any place or thing that impedes progress
word: quagmire
Hyponyms: sense: small marsh
word: boglet
Derived terms: blanket bog
bog asphodel
bog beacon
bog bean
bog berry
bogberry
bog bilberry
bog-black
bog-blitter
bog blueberry
bog-bluiter
bog body
bog-brained
bog-bred
bog brush
bog-bumper
bog butter
bog-butter
bog chisel
bog cinquefoil
bog clubmoss
bog cotton
bog deal
bog-down
bog earth
bog fir
boggard
bog garden
bog gas
bogger
boggify
bogginess
boggish
boggo
boggy
boghaunter
bog hay
bog-hay
Boghead
bog-head
boghead
boghole
bog-hole
boghouse
bog Irish
bog iron
bog iron ore
bog-jumper
bogland
Bogland
Boglander
boglander
bog Latin
bog laurel
bogless
boglet
boglike
bogman
bog manganese
bog mine
bog mine ore
bogmire
bog-mold
bog moss
bog-mould
bog myrtle
bog nut
bog oak
bog onion
bog orange
bog orchid
bog orchis
bog ore
bog paper
bog peat
bog people
bog person
bog pimpernel
bog-pine
bog pink
bog-pit
bog-plant
bograt
bogroll
bog roll
bog rosemary
bogrush
bog-shop
bog snorkeling
bog spavin
bogspaving
bog stalker
bog standard
bogsucker
bog-timber
bog trefoil
bog-trot
bogtrotter
bogtrotting
bog-turf
bog turtle
bog violet
bog-water
bog-way
bog-wheel
bogwood
bogwort
bull-of-the-bog
cataract bog
chicken bog
cutaway bog
embog
featherbed bog
floating bog
mud bog
northern bog lemming
peatbog
peat bog
quaking bog
raised bog
string bog
unbog
Related terms: sense: like a marsh
word: boggy
sense: like a marsh
word: boggish
sense: marshy quality
word: bogginess
sense: to create a marsh
word: boggify
word: bog-standard