bog

noun

1. 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.”

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

   “Bog may by draining be made Meadow.”

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

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

   “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[…]”

   “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[…]”

   “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[…]”

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

   “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!”

4. (figuratively)Confusion, difficulty, or any other thing or place that impedes progress in the manner of such areas.

   “...quagmires and bogges of Romish superstition...”

   “Last day my mind was in a bog.”

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

5. (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”

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

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

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

6. (Australia, New-Zealand, slang)An act or instance of defecation.
7. (US, dialectal)A little elevated spot or clump of earth, roots, and grass, in a marsh or swamp.
8. (US)Chicken bog.

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

   “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[…]”

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

9. (alt-of, alternative, obsolete)Alternative form of bug: a bugbear, monster, or terror.
10. (obsolete)Puffery, boastfulness.

    “Their bog it nuver ceases.”

11. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of boots on the ground.

verb

1. (often, transitive)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.”

2. (figuratively)To prevent or slow someone or something from making progress.

   “[…] Bogg'd in his filthy Lusts […]”

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

3. (intransitive, often)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.”

4. (figuratively)To be prevented or impeded from making progress, to become stuck.
5. (Australia, intransitive)To defecate, to void one's bowels.
6. (Australia, transitive)To cover or spray with excrement.
7. (British, informal, transitive)To make a mess of something.
8. (obsolete, transitive)To provoke, to bug.

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

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

9. (British, euphemistic, slang, usually)To go away.
10. (Internet, transitive)To perform excessive cosmetic surgery that results in a bizarre or obviously artificial facial appearance.
11. (Internet, reflexive)To 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.”

adj

1. (obsolete)Bold; boastful; proud.

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

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

name

1. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of Bank of Ghana.
2. (US, abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of (Federal Reserve) Board of Governors.

   “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.”