The first recorded use of the word `` boredom '' is in the novel `` Bleak House '' by Charles Dickens , written in 1852 , in which it appears six times , although the expression `` to be a bore '' had been used in print in the sense of `` to be tiresome or dull '' since 1768 .
The first known use of the word `` boredom '' is in the novel `` Bleak House '' by Charles Dickens , written in 1852 , but the saying `` to be a bore '' had been used to mean `` to be tiresome or dull '' since 1768 .