Serbonian

American  

[ser-boh-nee-uhn] / sərˈboʊ ni ən /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or designating the large marshy tract of land in the northern part of ancient Egypt in which entire armies are said to have been swallowed up.

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Etymology

Origin of Serbonian

1660–70; < Greek Serbōní ( s ) ( límnē ) Serbonian (marsh) + -an

Example Sentences

That avenue was nicknamed “the great Serbonian bog.”

From The New Yorker • Jan. 19, 2017

Into this Serbonian bog between them and us we let them flounder, instead of building out into their domain great and noble piers and wharves, upon which they can land securely and come among us.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 15, January, 1859 by Various

He finds his age or country stuck in some Serbonian bog of iniquity.

From William Lloyd Garrison The Abolitionist by Grimké, Archibald Henry

From all this we turn, for a few moments only, and not too cheerfully, to the Serbonian bog of dramatic rules and the metaphysics of the theatre.

From Diderot and the Encyclopædists (Vol 1 of 2) by Morley, John

Thou my Serbonian Bog art, where O'er leagues of mud, black vomit of the Nile, Crawls in the sun the myriad crocodile.

From The Two Twilights by Beers, Henry A. (Henry Augustin)