boggle

[bog-uh l]

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verb (used with object), bog·gled, bog·gling.

to overwhelm or bewilder, as with the magnitude, complexity, or abnormality of: The speed of light boggles the mind.

to bungle; botch.

verb (used without object), bog·gled, bog·gling.

to hesitate or waver because of scruples, fear, etc.

to start or jump with fear, alarm, or surprise; shrink; shy.

to bungle awkwardly.

to be overwhelmed or bewildered.

noun

an act of shying or taking alarm.

a scruple; demur; hesitation.

bungle; botch.

Origin of boggle

First recorded in 1590–1600; perhaps from boggle²

Related formsbog·gling·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for boggled

startle, flabbergast, astound, overwhelm, amaze, shock

Examples from the Web for boggled

Contemporary Examples of boggled

A Surveillance State that would have boggled the mind of Orwell was born.
Snowden Deserves the Medal of Freedom, Not Prosecution
Jay Parini
June 8, 2014
Jessica Colaluca, creator and creative of Design Seeds: “It boggled my mind.”
Lena Dunham’s 'I'm thin for, like, Detroit’ Comment Gets Motowners Fired Up
Abby Haglage
January 18, 2013

Historical Examples of boggled

He boggled slightly as he came to the "adjective," but got over it safely.
In the Midst of Alarms
Robert Barr
Ludovic boggled horribly at this; but they accorded at last.
Little Novels of Italy
Maurice Henry Hewlett
I am above concealing my sentiments, though I have boggled at uttering them.
Mary Wollstonecraft
Elizabeth Robins Pennell
When she had gone on to explain, The Guesser's mind had boggled at her audacity—at first.
But, I Don't Think
Gordon Randall Garrett
First of all you were going to marry the widow; you boggled that.
Roger Ingleton, Minor
Talbot Baines Reed

British Dictionary definitions for boggled

boggle

verb (intr often foll by at)

to be surprised, confused, or alarmed (esp in the phrase the mind boggles)

to hesitate or be evasive when confronted with a problem

(tr) to baffle; bewilder; puzzle

Word Origin for boggle

C16: probably variant of bogle 1

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

Word Origin and History for boggled

boggle

1590s, "to start with fright" (as a startled horse does), from Middle English bugge "specter" (among other things, supposed to scare horses at night); see bug (n.); also cf. bogey (n.1). The meaning "to raise scruples, hesitate" is from 1630s. Related: Boggled; boggling.