bogey
Syllables: bo·gey/bəʊɡi/US/boʊɡi/
bogey noun: a ghost, goblin, or other hostile supernatural creature. Also the alternative spelling of bogie.
Noun (1)
bogey (plural bogeys)
- A ghost, goblin, or other hostile supernatural creature.
- Synonyms:
- goblin
- The Devil.
- A bugbear: any terrifying thing.
- If one man could be said to be responsible for the creation of the Russian bogy, it was a much-decorated British general named Sir Robert Wilson.1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 54
- Religious divides [among Protestants] went deep — this is evident from the reams of sermons and theological polemics published and avidly read — and only bashing the old bogey of Romism ('No Popery!') could unite Protestants.2001, Roy Porter, The Penguin Social History of Britain: English Society in the Eighteenth Century, revised edition, Penguin UK, →ISBN
- A police officer.
- A standard of performance set up as a mark to be aimed at in competition.
- An unidentified aircraft, especially as observed as a spot on a radar screen and suspected to be hostile.
- He stood on the sand near the gravel road that passed within two miles of the site of the disintegrated bogey, binoculars hanging on a leather strap from his neck, face streaming with sweat under the brim of his hat... Army and government trucks passed along the road every few minutes, some bearing...1987, Greg Bear, “Lacrimosa Dies Illa!”, in The Forge of God (science fiction), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 83
- Synonym of bandit: an enemy aircraft.
- God dammit, Mustang! This is Ghost Rider 117. This bogey is all over me. He's got missile lock on me. Do I have permission to fire?1986, Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr., Top Gun (motion picture), spoken by Cougar
- Synonyms:
- bandit
- The notional opponent of a golfer playing alone.
- ‘I was just having a practice round against bogey,’ he said. ‘I caddied for myself, so there were no witnesses.’1931, Dorothy L. Sayers, The Five Red Herrings
- A score of one over par on a hole.
- A piece of mucus in or removed from the nostril; a booger.
Verb (1)
bogey (third-person singular simple present bogeys, present participle bogeying, simple past and past participle bogeyed or bogied)
- To make a bogey on (a particular hole).
Noun (2)
bogey (plural bogeys)
- A bog-standard (representative) specimen taken from the center of production.
Verb (2)
bogey (third-person singular simple present bogeys, present participle bogeying, simple past and past participle bogeyed)
Noun (3)
bogey (plural bogeys)
- A swim or bathe; a bath.
- My mother would use leaves from trees to make soap for washing our bodies with, and unfortunately for us kids there was no excuse not to take a bogey.1994, Rita Huggins & Jackie Huggins, Auntie Rita, in Heiss & Minter, Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature, Allen & Unwin 2008, p. 151
Proper noun capitalized: Bogey
Bogey
- A male given name.
- Bogey's voice is breaking. When he speaks he rushes up and down the scale.1920 August 27, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “The Wind Blows”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, page 143
- Humphrey Bogart (1899–1957), American film and stage actor.
- In quintessential roles, Bogart and Bergman are former lovers reunited in wartorn Casablanca. Bogey is the cynical cafe owner who lives by his own moral code and sticks his neck out for “no one.”2014, David Bleiler, TLA Video & DVD Guide 2004: The Discerning Film Lover's Guide, St. Martin's Griffin, →ISBN
Also used as
bogey is also the alternative spelling of bogie.
Examples of bogey in a sentence
- England could have been forgiven for believing the fates were against them as they trailed to their League A Group Four opponents, who have become something of a bogey side over the years.2018 November 18, Phil McNulty, “England 2 - 1 Croatia”, in BBC Sport:
- Army and government trucks passed along the road every few minutes, some bearing radiation stickers; many of those outward bound, he knew, carried fragments of the bogey.1987, Greg Bear, “Lacrimosa Dies Illa!”, in The Forge of God (science fiction), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 83:
Synonyms of bogey
Forms of bogey
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | bogeys |
| alternative form | bogie |
| alternative form | bogy |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | bogeys |
| present participle | bogeying |
| past participle | bogeyed |
| past | bogeyed |
| past participle | bogied |
| past | bogied |
Origin of bogey
Probably related to or alteration of bogle, akin to or from a variant of Middle English bugge (“frightening specter, scarecrow”) (whence bug), itself of uncertain origin: perhaps from obsolete Welsh bwg (“ghost, hobgoblin”); compare Welsh bwgwl (“threat”, older “fear”), Irish bagairt (“threat”), but perhaps the root was borrowed from Germanic. Otherwise from Proto-Germanic *bugja- (“swollen up, thick”); compare Norwegian bugge (“big man”), dialectal Low German Bögge and Alemannic German Böögg (“goblin”, “snot”). See also Proto-Germanic *pūkô (“a goblin, spook”), Old English pūca (“goblin, mischievous spirit”), Icelandic púki Swedish puke (“small devil, spook”), whence obsolete English puck. Perhaps the Middle English and Welsh words come from a word related to buck and originally referred to a goat-shaped specter. Compare also booger. The golf sense is from the devil as an imaginary player. The sometimes proscribed conflation with bandit was popularized by the 1986 film Top Gun.
Clipping of bog-standard + -ey (diminutive suffix).
From Dharug bugi- (“to bathe, dive”).
Words formed from bogey
- bogeyism
- bogeyland
- bogeyman
- bogey team
- double bogey
- triple bogey
Phrases with bogey
Words that rhyme with bogey
Questions about bogey
- What does bogey mean?
- Bogey means a ghost, goblin, or other hostile supernatural creature.
- How do you use bogey in a sentence?
- England could have been forgiven for believing the fates were against them as they trailed to their League A Group Four opponents, who have become something of a bogey side over the years.
- What part of speech is bogey?
- Bogey can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce bogey?
- Bogey is pronounced /bəʊɡi/ (UK).
- What is the plural of bogey?
- The plural of bogey is bogeys.
Words near bogey in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bogey (page history and authors); Bogey (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-bogie.wav, En-au-bogey.oga.
Cite this entry: “bogey.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bogey. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.