bugger
1 Americannoun
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buggers
plural
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Informal. a fellow or lad (used affectionately or abusively).
a cute little bugger.
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Informal. any object or thing.
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Often Vulgar. a sodomite.
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Chiefly British Slang.
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a despicable or contemptible person, especially a man.
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an annoying or troublesome thing, situation, etc.
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verb (used with object)
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buggers,
present (3rd person singular)
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buggered,
past participle, past
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buggering
present participle
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Often Vulgar. to sodomize.
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Slang. damn.
Bugger the cost—I want the best.
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Chiefly British Slang. to trick, deceive, or take advantage of.
verb phrase
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bugger off to depart; bug off.
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bugger up to ruin; spoil; botch.
noun
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a person who practises buggery
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slang a person or thing considered to be contemptible, unpleasant, or difficult
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slang a humorous or affectionate term for a man or child
a silly old bugger
a friendly little bugger
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slang nothing
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slang to fool around and waste time
verb
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to practise buggery (with)
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slang (tr) to ruin, complicate, or frustrate
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slang to tire; weary
he was absolutely buggered
interjection
Usage
More context on bugger Bugger seems like a completely harmless word, right? Wrong. While often used informally as an insult (like "jerk") or to refer to any ole whachamacallit, bugger has also been used as a more offensive vulgar term for "sodomy."Bugger ultimately originates from the Medieval Latin Bulgarus, literally "Bulgarian." During the Middle Ages, the Balkans (the peninsula where Bulgaria is located) were linked to heretical sects, such as a group known as the Bogomils, who were said to engage in deviant sexual practices. We can see that the history of bugger has both historical layers of xenophobia and homophobia. Keep context in mind when using this word or else someone might tell you to bugger off. If knowing the history of bugger has got you reflecting on your word choices, this slideshow, "These Common Words Have Offensive Histories," discusses many other words whose place in your vocab you may want to reconsider.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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buggersimple
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buggerssimple
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have buggeredperfect
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has buggeredperfect
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am buggeringprogressive
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are buggeringprogressive
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is buggeringprogressive
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have been buggeringperfect progressive
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has been buggeringperfect progressive
Past
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buggeredsimple
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had buggeredperfect
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was buggeringprogressive
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were buggeringprogressive
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had been buggeringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bugger1
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English bougre, from Anglo-French bugre, from Medieval Latin Bulgarus “heretic,” literally, “Bulgarian,” by association of the Balkans with heretical sects such as the Bogomils ( def. ) and their alleged deviant sexual practices; bugger 1 def. 1 perhaps by reanalysis as bug 1 or bug 2 + -er 1 ( cf. booger)
Origin of bugger2
Vocabulary lists containing bugger
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“By the time we got back to the lab, the little bugger had crawled out of the dish,” he recalls with some chagrin.
From New York Times ● Feb. 6, 2024
But she also calls out her fans' involvement in her personal life, and she basically tells them to bugger off.
From Salon ● Sep. 25, 2023
New court documents allege Kristian White said "bugger it" before firing as she slowly advanced using a walker.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2023
"We didn't get our steak for dinner, which was a bugger," Chapman said.
From Reuters ● Jun. 6, 2023
“Nasty bugger, eh? Just be glad the Grievers only come out at night. Be thankful for these walls.”
From "The Maze Runner" by James Dashner
For those who really love popping the little buggers, you can say a word of thanks to the lucky inventors on Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day on the last Monday of January.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 4, 2026
As far as the feds were concerned, that meant dropping pesticide on the little buggers from the air — the same advice Brown was getting from his state ag officials.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2024
Then, scientists being mean buggers, will give them a similar task that is unsolvable: this is called the “impossible task paradigm.”
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2024
“I wanted to have somewhere I could bring these poor old buggers and they could just live their lives out - happy, fed… not having to worry about people shooting them.”
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2024
Don’t the poor miserable buggers all want to be like me?
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
“The office thing is all buggered up,” says Alison Hirst, a business professor at Anglia Ruskin University in England, who has done case studies of the social dynamics in open offices.
From Scientific American ● Mar. 20, 2023
Yeah, there was an awful lot of “Great, you lumbered me with this, and then you buggered off.”
From The Verge ● May 30, 2019
“I just buggered that up,” she shrugged to reporters.
From US News ● Jul. 22, 2014
We'd be buggered without one another, it ruffs, as we watch Sheila merrily deposit the latest of Millie Snowflakes's endeavours in a tiny plastic bag.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 12, 2012
You gave a little nod to the audience and then buggered off.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2012
Instead, as she did on Wednesday night, May invokes only her own blank sense of obligation, of continuing with something no matter the cost, of buggering on regardless.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 21, 2019
Several of these testimonies are accompanied by footage of said onlookers examining an object that Dynamo has recently finished levitating/exploding/shrinking/otherwise buggering about with.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 6, 2013
But it's really buggering Scotland, who with meagre resources have historically had to rely on moments of outrageous improvisation to entertain their punters.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 14, 2012
At which point the club decided to stop buggering about and purchased Brian Clough from Middlesbrough for £45,000 and George Herd from Clyde for £40,000.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 28, 2012
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
