bog down

English

Verb

bog down (third-person singular simple present bogs down, present participle bogging down, simple past and past participle bogged down)

1. (intransitive, "get"-passive) To become stuck (as if in a bog) and unable to progress.
   • 1979 December 22, Andy Beck, “BENT: To Remind, To Instruct, To Warn”, in Gay Community News, volume 2, number 22, page 11:

     The play bogs down in narrative as we watch Max and Rudy flee Berlin.

   • 2025 April 16, Philip Haigh, “Competition hots up on the Channel Tunnel route”, in RAIL, number 1033, page 50:

     DB wanted to start running in 2013, but couldn't get approval for the Velaro trains it wanted to run. It became bogged down in a process controlled by the Intergovernmental Commission (IGC), which includes the Channel Tunnel Safety Authority.

2. (transitive) To cause to become stuck and unable to progress.

Related terms

• bag down
• bug down

Translations

to become stuck

• French: s’enliser (fr)
• Galician: empantanarse, estancarse
• German: feststecken (de), festsitzen (de)
• Italian: impantanarsi, impaludarsi, arenarsi
• Maori: powharu, tapoko
• Norwegian: kjøre seg fast
• Portuguese: atolar (pt), empacar (pt)
• Russian: застревать (ru) impf (zastrevatʹ), увязать (ru) impf (uvjazatʹ)
• Spanish: empantanarse (es), estancarse (es)

to cause to become stuck

• Catalan: empantanar (ca)
• Galician: empantanar, estancar
• German: blockieren (de)
• Maori: whakamārari
• Spanish: empantanar (es), estancar (es)
• Ukrainian: загру́знути (zahrúznuty)

See also

• embroil, entrap, trap