bogger

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒɡə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From various senses of bog +‎ -er.

Noun

bogger (plural boggers)

1. Someone associated with or who works in a bog.
   • 2000, Lorraine Heath., Never Love a Cowboy, page 51:

     “I was a bogger afore the war—”
     “A bogger?”
     “Yep. I was the one sent to get the cattle out of the muddy bogs and thickets.”

2. (Australia, slang) A man who catches nippers (snapping prawns).^[1]
3. (originally UK, derogatory) Synonym of boglander: an Irishman, now (Ireland, derogatory) a yokel, an Irishman from the countryside or (sometimes) from anywhere other than Dublin and the Pale.

   Synonyms: boglander, (Ireland) culchie; see also Thesaurus:country bumpkin

4. (Newfoundland, Labrador) A dare, a task that children challenge each other to complete.^[2]
5. (Australia, Western Australia, slang) Someone who works to shovel ore or waste rock underground.^[3]
   • 1962, Bill Wannan, Modern Australian humour‎, page 176:

     Polish Joe was a bogger, a man who shifted unbelievable quantities of dirt away from the face from which it had been blown, and into trucks for dumping in the underground bins each day.

   1. A machine which shovels up and carries ore and/or rock in an underground mine

      Coordinate terms: loader, steam shovel, rock truck, dump truck

6. (Australia, slang) A lavatory: a room for urination and defecation.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:bathroom

   So what if you kissed some bogan mole in the bogger at some 3rd-rate bar?

7. (Northern England, derogatory, slang) Someone of the goth, skate, punk, or emo subculture.

Derived terms

• mud bogger

Related terms

• bogtrotter (Ireland)
• bog warrior (Ireland)
• bogman (Ireland)
• nipper-bogger (Australia)

Adjective

bogger

1. comparative form of bog: more bog

Etymology 2

From bugger.

Noun

bogger (plural boggers)

1. Pronunciation spelling of bugger. Used particularly as an epithet or term of camaraderie or endearment.^[4]
   • 1986, Ian Breakwell., Ian Breakwell's diary, 1964-1985:

     "You bloody bogger...!

   • 1998, Alan Sillitoe, The Broken Chariot:

     "You're a funny bogger, though. I never could mek yo' out. Ye're just like one of the lads, but sometimes there's a posh bogger trying to scramble out."

   • 1992, Alan Sillitoe, Saturday night and Sunday morning:

     "The dirty bogger! He's got a fancy woman! Nine times a week!"

References

1. 1966, Sidney John Baker, The Australian language, page 223.
2. “bogger”, entry in 2004 [1990], George Morley Story, W. J. Kirwin, John David Allison Widdowson, Dictionary of Newfoundland English.
3. “bogger”, entry in 1989, Joan Hughes, Australian words and their origins.
4. “Bogger”, entry in 1990, Leslie Dunkling, A dictionary of epithets and terms of address.

• Simon Elmes (2005) Talking for Britain: a journey through the nation's dialects
• Eric Partridge (2006) The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English: A-I
• Irving L. Allen (1983) The language of ethnic conflict: social organization and lexical culture

Afrikaans

Noun

bogger (plural boggers)

1. Alternative spelling of bokker

Interjection

bogger

1. Alternative spelling of bokker