boggle

== English == === Pronunciation === (UK) IPA(key): /ˈbɒɡ.əl/ (US, Canada) IPA(key): /ˈbɑ.ɡəl/ (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA(key): /ˈbɔɡ.əl/ Rhymes: -ɒɡəl === Etymology 1 === Variation or derivation of bogle, possibly cognate with bug. ==== Verb ==== boggle (third-person singular simple present boggles, present participle boggling, simple past and past participle boggled) (transitive or intransitive) (literally or figuratively) to stop or hesitate as if suddenly seeing a bogle. (intransitive) To be bewildered, dumbfounded, or confused. 1795, Mary Wollstonecraft, letter to Gilbert Imlay dated 4 October, 1795, in Mary Wollstonecraft: Letters to Imlay, London: Kegan Paul, 1879, p. 182,[4] From the tenour of your last letter however, I am led to imagine, that you have formed some new attachment.—If it be so, let me earnestly request you to see me once more, and immediately. This is the only proof I require of the friendship you profess for me. I will then decide, since you boggle about a mere form. (transitive) To confuse or mystify; overwhelm. (US, dialect) To embarrass with difficulties; to palter or equivocate; to bungle or botch (intransitive, obsolete) To dissemble; to play fast and loose (with someone or something). (intransitive, of a rat) To wiggle the eyes as a result of bruxing. ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== ===== References ===== Samuel Johnson (15 April 1755), “BOGGLE”, in A Dictionary of the English Language: […], volume I (A–K), London: […] W[illiam] Strahan, for J[ohn] and P[aul] Knapton; […], →OCLC. ==== Noun ==== boggle (plural boggles) (dated) A scruple or objection. (dated) A bungle; a botched situation. === Etymology 2 === ==== Noun ==== boggle (plural boggles) Alternative form of bogle.