bog
pronunciation
How to pronounce bog in British English:
UK [bɒg]
How to pronounce bog in American English:
US [bɔg]
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- Noun:
- wet spongy ground of decomposing vegetation; has poorer drainage than a swamp; soil is unfit for cultivation but can be cut and dried and used for fuel
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- Verb:
- cause to slow down or get stuck
- get stuck while doing something
Word Origin
- bog
- bog: [13] Bog is of Gaelic origin. It comes from bogach ‘bog’, which was a derivative of the adjective bog ‘soft’. A possible link between Gaelic bog and Old English būgan ‘bend’ (source of modern English bow) has been suggested. The British slang use ‘lavatory’, which dates from the 18th century, appears to be short for the slightly earlier bog-house, which may have been an alteration of the 16th-century boggard – quite possibly completely unrelated to bog ‘swamp’.
- bog (n.)
- 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.
- bog (v.)
- "to sink (something or someone) in a bog," c. 1600, from bog (n.). Intransitive use from c. 1800. Related: Bogged; bogging.
Example
- 1. There is a fen around each island a passable bog .
- 2. Suddenly , another howl emerges from far away , deep in the bog .
- 3. Vast stretches of peat bog surrounding the city have dried out and caught fire covering moscow with choking smog .
- 4. The bog can decompose for hundreds of metres round every turbine , potentially releasing millions of tonnes of carbon .
- 5. Pakistan derives about a fifth of its output from agriculture , and much of its most productive cropland is submerged or turned to bog .