bog

¹

[ bog, bawg ]

noun

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

verb (used with or without object)

, bogged, bog·ging.

1. to sink in or as if in a bog (often followed by down ):

   We were bogged down by overwork.

verb phrase

1. Australian Slang. to eat heartily and ravenously.

bog

²

[ bog, bawg ]

noun

, British Slang.

1. a lavatory; bathroom.

bog

/ bɒɡ /

noun

1. wet spongy ground consisting of decomposing vegetation, which ultimately forms peat
2. an area of such ground
3. a place or thing that prevents or slows progress or improvement
4. See lavatory
   a slang word for lavatory
5. slang.
   the act or an instance of defecating

bog

/ bôg /

1. 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.

Derived Forms

• ˈboggy, adjective
• ˈbogginess, noun

Other Words From

• boggish adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of bog¹

1495–1505; < Irish or Scots Gaelic bogach soft ground ( bog soft + -ach noun suffix); bog ¹( def 4 ) perhaps a different word

Origin of bog²

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of bog¹

C13: from Gaelic bogach swamp, from bog soft

Example Sentences

The Viksø helmets, as the pair is called, were discovered in 1942, buried in a peat bog near Copenhagen.

From 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.

From 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.

From 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.

From 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.

From Popular-Science

The aerial shots were so sharp they could see every bog hole.

From The Daily Beast

Whoever can stay on offense and avoid the gaffe or the policy bog will have the upper hand in the debate.

From The Daily Beast

The Consumer Financial Protection Agency can bog down any other agency by encumbering agency rules or policies.

From The Daily Beast

Intermittent, torrential rain showers turned the rutted, cratered road into a bog of red mud.

From 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.

From Project Gutenberg

Hope had gone, dreams were unreal and vanishing as the mist that crawled along the bog-pools at night.

From Project Gutenberg

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.

From Project Gutenberg

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.

From Project Gutenberg

He shook himself out of this depressing bog of reflection and went to see Archie Lawanne.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• lowland
• marshland
• wetlands