bogle

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a goblin, specter, or other frightening supernatural being in northern British and Scots folklore

   The children believed that a bogle haunted the ruined mill.

2. 2
   noun

   a scarecrow or any object treated as a source of fear or loathing

   In the dusk, the ragged bogle in the field looked almost alive.

Simplified etymology

Bogle is recorded from the early 16th century with the meaning ‘a phantom or goblin’. Boggle ‘be startled or alarmed’ is probably a dialect word related to bogle and bogey ‘an evil or mischievous spirit’.

A Scots and northern English word attested around 1500. Its origin is uncertain, but it is probably related to the bug, bogey, and boggart family of words for frightening apparitions; boggle originally described starting in fear.

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External links

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