Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To hesitate as if in fear or doubt.
- intransitive verb To shy away or be overcome with fright or astonishment.
- intransitive verb To act ineptly or inefficiently; bungle.
- intransitive verb To cause to be overcome, as with fright or astonishment.
- intransitive verb To botch; bungle.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A dialectal form of
bogle . - To take alarm; start with fright; shy, as a horse.
- To hesitate; stop, as if afraid to proceed, or as if impeded by unforeseen difficulties; waver; shrink.
- To play fast and loose; dissemble; quibble; equivocate.
- To bungle; be awkward; make clumsy attempts.
- noun A pitcher or jug wrought in the figure of a man, not unlike a toby or toby-pitcher.
- noun The act of shying or taking alarm.
- noun Objection; scruple; demur.
- noun A bungle; a botch.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb Local, U. S. To embarrass with difficulties; to make a bungle or botch of.
- intransitive verb To stop or hesitate as if suddenly frightened, or in doubt, or impeded by unforeseen difficulties; to take alarm; to exhibit hesitancy and indecision.
- intransitive verb To do anything awkwardly or unskillfully.
- intransitive verb To play fast and loose; to dissemble.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb intransitive To be
bewildered ,dumbfounded , orconfused . - verb transitive To
confuse ormystify ;overwhelm . - verb US, dialect To
embarrass withdifficulties ; tobungle orbotch .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb overcome with amazement
- verb startle with amazement or fear
- verb hesitate when confronted with a problem, or when in doubt or fear
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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(How long before all the boggle is used up, I start to wonder.)
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Setting aside where it leads, a couple of things about that search term boggle me.
The gaping silence 2010
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Update Alex sez, "A" more ferocious "internet-edition of boggle is available here, using xmlhttprequest for real-time Massively Multiplayer Online Boggling.
- Boing Boing 2006
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It was these two stories that made me understand 'boggle' and 'mind'.
Giving evidence to the Chilcot inquiry, Tony Blair said: “I... 2010
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When I first heardthat Guy Ritchie was going to do a Holmes movie and that the consulting tec was to be played by Robert Downey Jr, my immediate reaction was a kind of boggle-eyed ‘nnnNaah!’
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When I first heardthat Guy Ritchie was going to do a Holmes movie and that the consulting tec was to be played by Robert Downey Jr, my immediate reaction was a kind of boggle-eyed ‘nnnNaah!’
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When I first heardthat Guy Ritchie was going to do a Holmes movie and that the consulting tec was to be played by Robert Downey Jr, my immediate reaction was a kind of boggle-eyed ‘nnnNaah!’
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The multiple layers of screen mediation on this one kind of boggle the mind, if one feels like thinking critically about postmodernism.
Papelbon Dances Again Becca 2007
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The multiple layers of screen mediation on this one kind of boggle the mind, if one feels like thinking critically about postmodernism.
Archive 2007-10-01 Becca 2007
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And, like Katrina, parts of it kind of boggle the mind.
sonofgroucho commented on the word boggle
As in "The mind boggles!".
February 7, 2007
minerva commented on the word boggle
...when your unexampled vigilance and exalted virtue made potions, and rapes, and the utmost violences, necessary to the attainment of his detestable end, we see that he never boggled at them.
Anna Howe to Clarissa Harlowe, Clarissa by Samuel Richardson
January 4, 2008
john commented on the word boggle
"I'm the king of Boggle there is none higher, I get 11 points off the word quagmire!"
- Beastie Boys, "Putting Shame In Your Game," off Hello Nasty
January 22, 2008
brusselsprouts commented on the word boggle
Perpetually boggled by the number of social networking sites online...
January 22, 2008
yarb commented on the word boggle
He sung the same songs repeatedly one after another every day; so that when, after saying ten or twelve lines after him for three months together, I got to boggle through them without missing, the whole family were in raptures at my memory.
- Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 1 ch. 5
September 12, 2008
hernesheir commented on the word boggle
5. A pitcher or jug wrought in the figure of a man, not unlike a toby or toby-pitcher. --CD&C
November 28, 2011