bogart
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: bogarts
form: bogarting
form: bogarted
form: bogarted
Etymology: From actor Humphrey Bogart, from Dutch surname Bogaard (“keeper of an orchard”), from boomgaard (“treegarden, orchard”), cognate to English boom (“piece of wood”)/beam + garden.
Senses of selfishness and excess evolved from the original 1960s use meaning “keep a joint in the mouth instead of passing it on”, recalling the actor’s signature practice of keeping a cigarette dangling from his mouth even while speaking. Other senses of “bullying” or “tough guy” also originated in the 1960s and recall the actor’s various movie roles.
Another potential origin of the vernacular comes from Humphrey Bogart's role in the film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) in which his character, Dobbs, becomes increasingly selfish with the gold mine that he shares with his two partners.
Or it could be from The Big Sleep (1946) in which Lauren Bacall lights a cigarette for him while he is tied up, forcing him to dangle the cigarette from his lips for the rest of the scene. According to an interview with "The Fraternity of Man" bandmember Lawrence "Stash" Wagner, he "got down on my knees and begged" the ABC record label to put their song "Don't Bogart That Joint" on a single, agreeing to change the title to "Don't Bogart Me." On the origin on the song, he said, "The band was smoking some pot in our rehearsal house up in Laurel Canyon, when Elliot [Ingber] turned to me and said, 'Hey man, don’t bogart that thing.' I asked him, what does ‘bogart’ mean? He said, “You know, like Humphrey Bogart always had a cigarette in his hand or hanging from his lips when talking. Well, you were hanging onto that joint while your lips were flapping.' I said, 'Cool, we should write a song using Bogart.'" Source.
Senses: examples: text: Dude, don’t bogart the chocolate fudge!
text: Don’t bogart the can, man.
text: Don't bogart that joint, my friend / Pass it over to me
ref: 1968, Elliot Ingber and Larry Wagner, “(Please provide the song title)”, in The Fraternity of Man:
glosses: To selfishly take or keep something; to hog; especially to hold a joint (marijuana) dangling between the lips instead of passing it on.
examples: text: He tried to bogart his way in.
text: “He comes trying to bogart his way into my house and he smashes two of my wWindows, two great big windows.”
ref: 1990, Stephen Dobyns, The House on Alexandrine, Wayne State University Press, →ISBN, page 152:
text: David studied Kel for a moment and considered the question. His former running buddy was a big man who'd learned early how to use his size to intimidate people. To bogart his way past resistance to instant gratification, whether it was for advantage in a one-on-one at the hoops or with a woman in bed.
ref: 2013, Sandra Kitt, Family Affairs, Open Road Media, →ISBN:
text: He sat patiently and rode it out, inching his way along, drinking a Red bull and listening to the news radio until he was able to bogart his way over to the lane on his right that was moving at a faster pace.
ref: 2014, Travon Pugh, Have Heart Have Money, Queen C's Publishing, →ISBN, page 33:
glosses: To obtain by bullying, intimidation; be a tough guy.
glosses: To behave like a bully.
Synonyms: sense: selfishly keep
word: hog