bogle
Syllables: bog·le/ˈbɒɡ.əl/US/ˈbɔɡ.əl/
bogle noun: a goblin, imp, bogeyman, bugbear or similar a frightful being or phantom. Also the obsolete form of boggle.
Noun
bogle (plural bogles)
- A goblin, imp, bogeyman, bugbear or similar a frightful being or phantom.
- For ilka place I ha'e is already fu',
But ae big room-'deed frien', I needna lie t'yne
An' that has long been haunted by a bogle1820, Gibby and the ghaist - “Montgomery,” said I, “what was that thing that came after me? Was it a beast or was it a man?”
“If you don’t sleep to-night,” he said, “you’ll be off your head to-morrow.”
I stood up in front of him. “What was that thing that came after me?” I asked.
He looked me squarely in the eyes, and twisted...1896, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, The Island of Doctor Moreau (Heinemann’s Colonial Library of Popular Fiction; 52), London: William Heinemann, →OCLC; republished as The Island of Doctor Moreau: A...
- For ilka place I ha'e is already fu',
- A scarecrow.
- A Jamaican dance move that involves raising and lowering the arms while moving the body in a waving motion.
- At the turn of the Nineties, the footballer Ian Wright would often celebrate his goals by running to the corner flag, and doing a ‘bogling’ move—the ‘bogle’ was a ragamuffin reggae dance then popular in the black community.2001 November 25, Diran Adebayo, “Young, gifted, black…and very confused”, in The Observer, →ISSN
- In Jamaica, there's a constant stream of new moves, corresponding to big club tunes. Dancers race to put videos online in the hope of starting the next bogle, dutty wine or hot wuk sensation.2013 July 6, Kate Hutchinson, “It's summer, let's dance!”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
Proper noun capitalized: Bogle
Bogle (plural Bogles)
- A surname.
Also used as
bogle is also the obsolete form of boggle.
Forms of bogle
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | bogles |
| alternative form | boggle |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | bogles |
| present participle | bogling |
| past participle | bogled |
| past | bogled |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Bogles |
Origin of bogle
Uncertain; possibly cognate with English bug, or derived from Welsh bwgwly (“to terrify”).
Words formed from bogle
Words that rhyme with bogle
Questions about bogle
- What does bogle mean?
- Bogle means a goblin, imp, bogeyman, bugbear or similar a frightful being or phantom.
- What part of speech is bogle?
- Bogle can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce bogle?
- Bogle is pronounced /ˈbɒɡ.əl/ (UK).
- What is the plural of bogle?
- The plural of bogle is bogles.
Words near bogle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bogle (page history and authors); Bogle (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)-Vealhurl-bogle.wav.
Cite this entry: “bogle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bogle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.