Inherited from Middle English bog (originally chiefly in Ireland and Scotland), from Irish and Scottish Gaelic bogach (“soft, boggy ground”), from Old Irish bog (“soft”), from Proto-Celtic *buggos (“soft, tender”) + Old Irish -ach, from Proto-Celtic *-ākos. The frequent use to form compounds regarding the animals and plants in such areas mimics Irish compositions such as bog-luachair (“bulrush, bogrush”). Its use for toilets is now often derived from the resemblance of latrines and outhouse cesspools to bogholes, but the noun sense appears to be a clipped form of boghouse (“outhouse, privy”), which derived (possibly via boggard) from the verb to bog, still used in Australian English. The derivation and its connection to other senses of "bog" remains uncertain, however, owing to an extreme lack of early citations due to its perceived vulgarity.
An area of decayed vegetation (particularly sphagnum moss) which forms a wet spongy ground too soft for walking.
Near-synonyms: fen, slough, moor
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:
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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:
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Specifically An acidic, chiefly rain-fed (ombrotrophic), peat-forming wetland. (Contrast an alkaline fen, and swamps and marshes.)
Wetland science
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, 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:
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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:
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Boggy 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:
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Figuratively Confusion, difficulty, or any other thing or place that impedes progress in the manner of such areas.
...quagmires and bogges of Romish superstition...1614, John King, Vitis Palatina, page 30:
Last day my mind was in a bog.a. 1796, Robert Burns, Poems & Songs, volume I:
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He wandered out again, in a perfect bog of uncertainty.1841, Charles Dickens, chapter LXXII, in Barnaby Rudge, page 358:
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Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, UK, Slang A place to defecate: originally specifically a latrine or outhouse but now used for any toilet.
I'm on the bog
I'm in the bog
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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:
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:
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Chicken and rice bog for their supper so she wouldn't have to cook.2018, Ann W Phillips, Lady Of Esterbrooke:
Inherited from Middle English bog (originally chiefly in Ireland and Scotland), from Irish and Scottish Gaelic bogach (“soft, boggy ground”), from Old Irish bog (“soft”), from Proto-Celtic *buggos (“soft, tender”) + Old Irish -ach, from Proto-Celtic *-ākos. The frequent use to form compounds regarding the animals and plants in such areas mimics Irish compositions such as bog-luachair (“bulrush, bogrush”). Its use for toilets is now often derived from the resemblance of latrines and outhouse cesspools to bogholes, but the noun sense appears to be a clipped form of boghouse (“outhouse, privy”), which derived (possibly via boggard) from the verb to bog, still used in Australian English. The derivation and its connection to other senses of "bog" remains uncertain, however, owing to an extreme lack of early citations due to its perceived vulgarity.
Often, With "down" To 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:
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Figuratively To 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:
[…] whose profession to forsake the World... bogs them deeper into the world.1641, John Milton, Animadversions, page 58:
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Often, With "down" To 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:
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Figuratively To be prevented or impeded from making progress, to become stuck.
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:
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
bog
verb
Etymology From bug off, a clipping of bugger off, likely under the influence of bog (coarse British slang for "toilet[s]").