bog

plural bogs · alternative bogg · alternative bogge · alternative boghe

1. An area of decayed vegetation (particularly sphagnum moss) which forms a wet spongy ground too soft for walking.

   Near-synonyms: fen, slough, moor

   5 more examples

   They that ride so... fall into foule Boggs.

   1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vii], line 56

   Certaine... places [in Ireland]... which of their softnes are vsually tearmed Boghes.

   1612, John Speed, chapter IV, in The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, volume IV, page 143

   Bog may by draining be made Meadow.

   a. 1687, William Petty, Political Arithmetick

   [W]e entered a region where the stream widened out and formed a considerable bog.

   1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC

   [Cedar Bog] is a living museum of plants that once were spread over a far wider area. It is the southernmost such alkaline bog in North America, and teachers take their classes there to study this unique natural area.[…]

   1974 02, “Boys' Life”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 21

   Synonyms: marsh, swamp, mire, fen, slough, moor

   1. specificallywetland scienceAn acidic, chiefly rain-fed (ombrotrophic), peat-forming wetland. (Contrast an alkaline fen, and swamps and marshes.)

      Bogs are acidic peatlands, characteristic of boreal forests and mountainous regions (Figures 9.3 and 9.4). Their hydrology is precipitation driven as bogs do not receive floodwaters from neighboring rivers and streams[…]

      2016 December 19, Ralph W. Tiner, Wetland Indicators: A Guide to Wetland Formation, Identification, Delineation, Classification, and Mapping, Second Edition, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 122

      2 more examples

      Bogs are acidic, nutrient poor, and have a low species diversity, whereas fens are less acidic and have higher nutrient levels and species diversity. Typically, the herbaceous layer in bogs is dominated by sphagnum moss, whereas[…]

      1996, Geological Survey (U.S.), National Water Summary on Wetland Resources, →ISBN, page 214

      Bogs are acidic peatlands, while fens are non-acidic peatlands. The thick mat of dead plants forms sphagnum moss and peat, which is where we get our peat moss. Over a long period of time, the bog may fill up and a forest will grow in[…]

      2019 February 19, Sincere Humphrey, Freshwater Microbiology, Scientific e-Resources, →ISBN, page 24

      Synonyms: marsh, swamp, mire, fen, slough, moor

   2. uncountableBoggy ground.

      He laughed each time a camel sank down, and he laughed as they strained and pulled and struggled to get the beast on to its clumsy feet again. So sure on sand, so clumsy in bog!

      1931, Ion L. Idriess, Lasseter's Last Ride, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 101

      Synonyms: marsh, swamp, mire, fen, slough, moor

2. figurativelyConfusion, difficulty, or any other thing or place that impedes progress in the manner of such areas.

   Last day my mind was in a bog.

   a. 1796, Robert Burns, Poems & Songs, volume I

   2 more examples

   ...quagmires and bogges of Romish superstition...

   1614, John King, Vitis Palatina, page 30

   He wandered out again, in a perfect bog of uncertainty.

   1841, Charles Dickens, chapter LXXII, in Barnaby Rudge, page 358

   Synonyms: mire, quagmire, morass

3. AustraliaIrelandNew ZealandUKslangA place to defecate: originally specifically a latrine or outhouse but now used for any toilet.

   I'm on the bog

   I'm sitting on/using the toilet

   5 more examples

   I'm in the bog

   I'm in the bathroom

   Fearing I should catch cold, they out of pity covered me warm in a Bogg-house.

   1665, Richard Head et al., The English Rogue Described in the Life of Meriton Latroon, volume I

   ...That no dirt... be thrown out of any window, or down the bogs...

   a. 1789, Verses to John Howard F.R.S. on His State of Prisons and Lazarettos, published 1789, page 181

   Bog, or bog-house, a privy as distinguished from a water-closet.

   1864, J.C. Hotten, The Slang Dictionary, page 79

   Our lodger had our upstairs, use of the stove, our tap, and our bog.

   1959, William Golding, chapter I, in Free Fall, page 23

4. AustraliaNew ZealandslangAn act or instance of defecation.
5. USdialectalA little elevated spot or clump of earth, roots, and grass, in a marsh or swamp.
6. USChicken bog.

   Chicken and rice bog for their supper so she wouldn't have to cook.

   2018, Ann W Phillips, Lady Of Esterbrooke

   2 more examples

   Damon does emphasize that great red rice should always be fluffy and never mushy like a rice bog.

   2013, James Villas, Southern Fried: More Than 150 Recipes for Crab Cakes, Fried Chicken, Hush Puppies, and More, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 196

   I love Chicken Bog because it's one of those very regional recipes that has survived […] Don't skim or otherwise remove the fat from the stock though—it will help flavor the bog. Let the chicken cool and then pick the meat, setting it aside for the bog recipe that follows. The broth will[…]

   2016 October 1, Elliott Moss, Buxton Hall Barbecue's Book of Smoke: Wood-Smoked Meat, Sides, and More, Voyageur Press, →ISBN, page 113

present singular third person bogs · participle present bogging · participle past bogged · past bogged · alternative obsolete bogg · alternative obsolete bogue

1. oftentransitiveTo sink or submerge someone or something into bogland.

   To be 'bogged down' or 'mired down' is to be mired, generally in the 'wet valleys' in the spring.

   1928, American Dialect Society, American Speech, volume IV, page 132

2. figurativelyTo prevent or slow someone or something from making progress.

   […] Bogg'd in his filthy Lusts […]

   1605, Ben Jonson, Seianus His Fall, act IV, scene i, line 217

   1 more example

   […] whose profession to forsake the World... bogs them deeper into the world.

   1641, John Milton, Animadversions, page 58

3. intransitiveoftenTo sink and stick in bogland.

   Duncan Graham in Gartmore his horse bogged; that the deponent helped some others to take the horse out of the bogg.

   a. 1800, The Trials of James, Duncan, and Robert M'Gregor, Three Sons of the Celebrated Rob Roy, page 120

4. figurativelyTo be prevented or impeded from making progress, to become stuck.
5. AustraliaintransitiveTo defecate, to void one's bowels.
6. AustraliatransitiveTo cover or spray with excrement.
7. UKinformaltransitiveTo make a mess of something.

plural bogs · alternative bogge

1. alternativeobsoleteAlternative form of bug: a bugbear, monster, or terror.

comparative bogger · superlative boggest · alternative bug

1. obsoleteBold; boastful; proud.

   The Cuckooe, seeing him so bog, waxt also wondrous wroth.

   1592, William Warner, chapter XXXVII, in Albions England, volume VII, page 167

   1 more example

   Bogge, bold, forward, sawcy. So we say, a very bog Fellow.

   1691, John Ray, South and East Country Words, page 90

plural bogs · alternative bug

1. obsoletePuffery, boastfulness.

   Their bog it nuver ceases.

   1839, Charles Clark, John Noakes and Mary Styles, l. 3

present singular third person bogs · participle present bogging · participle past bogged · past bogged · alternative bug

1. obsoletetransitiveTo provoke, to bug.

   A Frencheman: whom he [Manlius Torquatus] slew, being bogged [Latin: provocatus] by hym.

   1556, Nicholas Grimald's translation of Cicero as Marcus Tullius Ciceroes Thre Bokes of Duties to Marcus His Sonne, Vol. III, p. 154

   1 more example

   If you had not written to me... we had broke now, the Frenchmen bogged us so often with departing.

   1546, State Papers King Henry the Eighth, volume XI, published 1852, page 163

present singular third person bogs · participle present bogging · participle past bogged · past bogged

1. UKeuphemisticslangusuallyTo go away.

present singular third person bogs · participle present bogging · participle past bogged · past bogged

1. InternettransitiveTo perform excessive cosmetic surgery that results in a bizarre or obviously artificial facial appearance.
2. InternetreflexiveTo have excessive cosmetic surgery performed on oneself, often with a poor or conspicuously unnatural result.

   My nose is already pretty good and I don't want to bog myself.

   2023 August 4, anonymous author, 4chan, /lgbt/

1. abbreviationinitialismgovernmentInitialism of boots on the ground.

1. abbreviationinitialismbankingInitialism of Bank of Ghana.
2. USabbreviationinitialismgovernmentInitialism of (Federal Reserve) Board of Governors.

   1 more example

   The BoG is a body of seven members located in Washington, appointed by the president and approved by the senate. The FOMC, which we think of as making monetary policy decisions, is made up of the members of the BoG plus the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and four other rotating regional reserve bank presidents.

   2025 July 31, Leah Downey, “What could a Trump appointee do at the Fed?”, in Financial Times, archived from the original on 30 Jul 2025, page 17