bogey
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /bəʊɡi/
ipa: /boʊɡi/
homophone: bogie
homophone: bogy
rhymes: -əʊɡi
Forms: form: bogeys
form: bogie
form: bogy
Etymology: Probably related to or alteration of bogle, akin to or from a variant of Middle English bugge (“frightening specter, scarecrow”) (whence bug), itself of uncertain origin: perhaps from obsolete Welsh bwg (“ghost, hobgoblin”); compare Welsh bwgwl (“threat”, older “fear”), Irish bagairt (“threat”), but perhaps the root was borrowed from Germanic. Otherwise from Proto-Germanic *bugja- (“swollen up, thick”); compare Norwegian bugge (“big man”), dialectal Low German Bögge and Alemannic German Böögg (“goblin”, “snot”).
See also Proto-Germanic *pūkô (“a goblin, spook”), Old English pūca (“goblin, mischievous spirit”), Icelandic púki Swedish puke (“small devil, spook”), whence obsolete English puck. Perhaps the Middle English and Welsh words come from a word related to buck and originally referred to a goat-shaped specter. Compare also booger.
The golf sense is from the devil as an imaginary player. The sometimes proscribed conflation with bandit was popularized by the 1986 film Top Gun.
Senses: synonyms: goblin
glosses: A ghost, goblin, or other hostile supernatural creature.
synonyms: word: Azazel
word: devil
word: demon
word: imp
glosses: The Devil.
examples: text: If one man could be said to be responsible for the creation of the Russian bogy, it was a much-decorated British general named Sir Robert Wilson.
ref: 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 54:
text: England could have been forgiven for believing the fates were against them as they trailed to their League A Group Four opponents, who have become something of a bogey side over the years.
ref: 2018 November 18, Phil McNulty, “England 2 - 1 Croatia”, in BBC Sport:
glosses: A bugbear: any terrifying thing.
glosses: A police officer.
topics: engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: A standard of performance set up as a mark to be aimed at in competition.
examples: text: He stood on the sand near the gravel road that passed within two miles of the site of the disintegrated bogey, binoculars hanging on a leather strap from his neck, face streaming with sweat under the brim of his hat... Army and government trucks passed along the road every few minutes, some bearing radiation stickers; many of those outward bound, he knew, carried fragments of the bogey. He was not privy to what they were finding.
ref: 1987, Greg Bear, “Lacrimosa Dies Illa!”, in The Forge of God (science fiction), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 83:
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
government
military
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
politics
war
glosses: An unidentified aircraft, especially as observed as a spot on a radar screen and suspected to be hostile.
examples: text: God dammit, Mustang! This is Ghost Rider 117. This bogey is all over me. He's got missile lock on me. Do I have permission to fire?
ref: 1986, Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr., Top Gun (motion picture), spoken by Cougar:
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
government
military
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
politics
war
glosses: Synonym of bandit: an enemy aircraft.
synonyms: word: bandit
extra: an enemy aircraft
examples: text: ‘I was just having a practice round against bogey,’ he said. ‘I caddied for myself, so there were no witnesses.’
ref: 1931, Dorothy L. Sayers, The Five Red Herrings:
topics: golf
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: The notional opponent of a golfer playing alone.
topics: golf
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
coordinate_terms: buzzard
par
birdie
eagle
albatross
condor
ostrich
glosses: A score of one over par on a hole.
glosses: A piece of mucus in or removed from the nostril; a booger.
Derived terms: bogeyism
bogeyland
bogeyman
double bogey
triple bogey