bog¹

[bog, bawg] /bɒg, bɔg/

noun

wet, spongy ground with soil composed mainly of decayed vegetable matter.

an area or stretch of such ground.

verb (used with object), verb (used without object), bogged, bogging.

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

We were bogged down by overwork.

Verb phrases

bog in, Australian Slang. to eat heartily and ravenously.

Origin

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

Related forms

boggish, adjective

bog²

[bog, bawg] /bɒg, bɔg/

noun, Usually, bogs, British Slang.

a lavatory; bathroom.

Origin

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

Examples from the web for bog

For the gardener who has a moist location, suitable for a bog or swamp garden, many native plants are available.
Most of the other plants that grow in the taiga must adapt to living in the wet climate of the swamp, also known as a bog.
Contacting all those servers can bog down a network.
On the site, he applied to build a golf course and shops-some of them over the bog.
When transplanted out of their native bog they usually did not live more than a year or two.
The power slide switch seems awfully fragile and setup and registration of the eReaders can bog down.
The disease is mired in a bog of misconception and prejudice, doctors say.
Avoid the urge to go through the text page by page--it'll bog down and they'll be bored.
In parliament itself, there is little consensus over how to pull the country out of its economic bog.
It's a bog standard subscription service by another name.

British Dictionary definitions for bog

bog

/bɒɡ/

noun

wet spongy ground consisting of decomposing vegetation, which ultimately forms peat

an area of such ground

a place or thing that prevents or slows progress or improvement

a slang word for lavatory (sense 1)

(Austral, slang) the act or an instance of defecating

See also bog down, bog in, bog off

Derived Forms

boggy, adjective
bogginess, noun

Word Origin

C13: from Gaelic bogach swamp, from bog soft

Word Origin and History for bog

c.1500, from Gaelic and Irish bogach "bog," from adjective bog "soft, moist," from PIE *bhugh-, from root *bheugh- "to bend" (see bow (v.)). Bog-trotter applied to the wild Irish from 1670s.

"to sink (something or someone) in a bog," c.1600, from bog (n.). Intransitive use from c.1800. Related: Bogged; bogging.

bog in Science

bog

(bôg)
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.

Related Abbreviations for bog

BOG

El Dorado International Airport (Bogotá, Colombia)