1. A guard to protect or defend the person; a lifeguard.
2. Retinue; attendance; following. Bp. Porteus.
Bœotian
(Bœ*o"tian) a. [L. Boeotia, Gr. , noted for its moist, thick atmosphere, and the dullness and stupidity
of its inhabitants.] Of or pertaining to Bœotia; hence, stupid; dull; obtuse. — n. A native of Bœotia; also, one
who is dull and ignorant.
Boer
(||Boer) n. [D., a farmer. See Boor.] A colonist or farmer in South Africa of Dutch descent.
Boes
(Bo"es) 3d sing. pr. of Behove. Behoves or behooves. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Bog
(Bog) n. [Ir. & Gael. bog soft, tender, moist: cf. Ir. bogach bog, moor, marsh, Gael. bogan quagmire.]
1. A quagmire filled with decayed moss and other vegetable matter; wet spongy ground where a heavy
body is apt to sink; a marsh; a morass.
Appalled with thoughts of bog, or caverned pit,
Of treacherous earth, subsiding where they tread.
R.
Jago.
2. A little elevated spot or clump of earth, roots, and grass, in a marsh or swamp. [Local, U. S.]
Bog bean. See Buck bean. — Bog bumper Bog blitter, Bog bluiter, Bog jumper, the bittern.
[Prov.] — Bog butter, a hydrocarbon of butterlike consistence found in the peat bogs of Ireland. —
Bog earth (Min.), a soil composed for the most part of silex and partially decomposed vegetable fiber.
P. Cyc. — Bog moss. (Bot.) Same as Sphagnum. — Bog myrtle (Bot.), the sweet gale. — Bog
ore. (Min.) (a) An ore of iron found in boggy or swampy land; a variety of brown iron ore, or limonite.
(b) Bog manganese, the hydrated peroxide of manganese. — Bog rush (Bot.), any rush growing in
bogs; saw grass. — Bog spavin. See under Spavin.
Bog
(Bog), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bogged ; p. pr. & vb. n. Bogging.] To sink, as into a bog; to submerge
in a bog; to cause to sink and stick, as in mud and mire.
At another time, he was bogged up to the middle in the slough of Lochend.
Sir W. Scott.
Bogberry
(Bog"ber`ry) n. (Bot.) The small cranberry which grows in boggy places.
Bogey
(Bo"gey) n. A goblin; a bugbear. See Bogy.
Boggard
(Bog"gard) n. A bogey. [Local, Eng.]
Boggle
(Bog"gle) v. i. [imp. & p. p. Boggled ; p. pr. & vb. n. Boggling ] [ See Bogle, n.]
1. To stop or hesitate as if suddenly frightened, or in doubt, or impeded by unforeseen difficulties; to
take alarm; to exhibit hesitancy and indecision.
We start and boggle at every unusual appearance.
Glanvill.
Boggling at nothing which serveth their purpose.
Barrow.
2. To do anything awkwardly or unskillfully.
3. To play fast and loose; to dissemble. Howell.
Syn. — To doubt; hesitate; shrink; stickle; demur.
Boggle
(Bog"gle), v. t. To embarrass with difficulties; to make a bungle or botch of. [Local, U. S.]
