bog

[ bog, bawg ]

See synonyms for: bog bogged bogging on Thesaurus.com

noun

wet, spongy ground with soil composed mainly of decayed vegetable matter.
an area or stretch of such ground.

verb (used with or without object),bogged, bog·ging.

to sink in or as if in a bog (often followed by down): We were bogged down by overwork.

Verb Phrases

bog in, Australian Slang. to eat heartily and ravenously.

Origin of bog

1495–1505; <Irish or Scots Gaelic bogach soft ground (bog soft + -ach noun suffix); (def. 4) perhaps a different word

Other words from bog

boggish, adjective

Words Nearby bog

Other definitions for bog (2 of 2)

bog²

[ bog, bawg ]

nounUsually bogs. British Slang.

a lavatory; bathroom.

Origin of bog

1780–90; probably shortening of bog-house; compare bog to defecate, boggard (16th century) privy, of obscure origin

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use bog in a sentence

The Viksø helmets, as the pair is called, were discovered in 1942, buried in a peat bog near Copenhagen.
Horned helmets came from Bronze Age artists, not Vikings | Philip Kiefer | January 18, 2022 | Popular-Science
The path eventually becomes a dirty track and their car sinks into a great big muddy bog, and finally two people turn up who inform them that the old man is demented and the sawmill has been out of operation for years.
Oliver Stone’s Crackpot JFK Conspiracy Movie Is a Hilarious, Head-Spinning Mess | Caspar Salmon | July 12, 2021 | The Daily Beast
For example, when a bog was converted to farmland or someone dug a drainage ditch, it’s not necessarily the case that anyone recorded it.
An enormous missing contribution to global warming may have been right under our feet | Chris Mooney | June 4, 2021 | Washington Post
By the time I arrive at a frozen marsh where the trail crosses some bog bridges made of wooden beams, I feel like a slab of meat in a North Face marinade bag.
He escaped the cacophony by strapping on snowshoes and slipping into the Great North Woods | Miles Howard | January 15, 2021 | Washington Post
These sturdy boots hit at your lower calf, which means they keep your pant bottoms dry but don’t make you feel like you’re about to hit up a cranberry bog.
Clothing and accessories that make great gifts | PopSci Commerce Team | October 6, 2020 | Popular-Science

The aerial shots were so sharp they could see every bog hole.
The Ballad of Johnny France | Richard Ben Cramer | January 12, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Whoever can stay on offense and avoid the gaffe or the policy bog will have the upper hand in the debate.
Brett O’Donnell’s Guide to Tonight’s Veep Debate | Brett O’Donnell | October 11, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
The Consumer Financial Protection Agency can bog down any other agency by encumbering agency rules or policies.
The Ugly Truth About Financial-Regulatory Reform | Harvey Pitt | July 14, 2010 | THE DAILY BEAST
Intermittent, torrential rain showers turned the rutted, cratered road into a bog of red mud.
Congo's Feminist Fight | Linda Bird Francke | July 7, 2010 | THE DAILY BEAST
Over the bogs and through the marshes, the madness of despair within him, he heeded not the deep ditches and the bog-pools.
The Underworld | James C. Welsh
Hope had gone, dreams were unreal and vanishing as the mist that crawled along the bog-pools at night.
The Underworld | James C. Welsh
Our trenches are a perfect bog; I shall find some difficulty in getting round them to-night even if we are not driven out of them.
Letters of Lt.-Col. George Brenton Laurie | George Brenton Laurie
I strove to creep out into the bog, seeking a footing, but the swamp quaked and the smooth surface trembled like jelly in a bowl.
In Search of the Unknown | Robert W. Chambers
He shook himself out of this depressing bog of reflection and went to see Archie Lawanne.
The Hidden Places | Bertrand W. Sinclair

British Dictionary definitions for bog

bog

/ (bɒɡ) /

noun

wet spongy ground consisting of decomposing vegetation, which ultimately forms peat
an area of such ground

a place or thing that prevents or slows progress or improvement
a slang word for lavatory (def. 1)
Australian slang the act or an instance of defecating

Origin of bog

C13: from Gaelic bogach swamp, from bog soft

See also bog down, bog in, bog off

Derived forms of bog

boggy, adjective
bogginess, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for bog

bog

[ bôg ]

An area of wet, spongy ground consisting mainly of decayed or decaying peat moss (sphagnum) and other vegetation. Bogs form as the dead vegetation sinks to the bottom of a lake or pond, where it decays slowly to form peat. Peat bogs are important to global ecology, since the undecayed peat moss stores large amounts of carbon that would otherwise be released back into the atmosphere. Global warming may accelerate decay in peat bogs and release more carbon dioxide, which in turn may cause further warming.

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