bogey

See also: Bogey

English

Alternative forms

bogie, bogy

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bəʊɡi/
Audio (Received Pronunciation): (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /boʊɡi/
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Homophones: bogie, bogy
Rhymes: -əʊɡi
Hyphenation: bo‧gey

Etymology 1

Probably related to or alteration of bogle, akin to or from a variant of Middle English bugge (“frightening specter, scarecrow”)^[1] (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. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?) 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.

Noun

bogey (plural bogeys)

A ghost, goblin, or other hostile supernatural creature.
Synonym: goblin
(archaic, often capitalized, usually with definite article) The Devil.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:Satan
(figuratively) A bugbear: any terrifying thing.
- 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 54:
  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.
- 2001, Roy Porter, The Penguin Social History of Britain: English Society in the Eighteenth Century‎^[2], revised edition, Penguin UK, →ISBN:
  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.
- 2018 November 18, Phil McNulty, “England 2 - 1 Croatia”, in BBC Sport‎^[3]:
  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.
(British, slang) A police officer.^[2]^[3]
(engineering) A standard of performance set up as a mark to be aimed at in competition.
(military, aviation) An unidentified aircraft,^{[n 1]} especially as observed as a spot on a radar screen and suspected to be hostile.
- 1987, Greg Bear, “Lacrimosa Dies Illa!”, in The Forge of God (science fiction), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 83:
  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 radiation stickers; many of those outward bound, he knew, carried fragments of the bogey. He was not privy to what they were finding.
(military, aviation, slang, proscribed) Synonym of bandit: an enemy aircraft.
- 1986, Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr., Top Gun (motion picture), spoken by Cougar:
  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?
(golf) The notional opponent of a golfer playing alone.
- 1931, Dorothy L. Sayers, The Five Red Herrings:
  ‘I was just having a practice round against bogey,’ he said. ‘I caddied for myself, so there were no witnesses.’
(golf) A score of one over par on a hole.
Coordinate terms: buzzard, par, birdie, eagle, albatross, condor, ostrich
(UK) A piece of mucus in or removed from the nostril; a booger.

Derived terms

Translations

Devil — see Devil

hostile supernatural creature

Bulgarian: зъл дух m (zǎl duh), таласъ́м (bg) m (talasǎ́m)
Czech: strašák (cs) m, strašidlo (cs) n
Finnish: mörkö (fi)
Greek:
Ancient Greek: φόβητρον n (phóbētron)
Macedonian: зол дух m (zol duh), та́ласам m (tálasam), се́ниште n (sénište)
Old Tupi: mba'e

euphemism for devil

German: Gottseibeiuns (de) m, Leibhaftige (de) m (der, only used with article)

any terrifying thing

Bulgarian: плашило (bg) n (plašilo)
Czech: strašák (cs) m, strašidlo (cs) n, postrach m
Finnish: mörkö (fi)
Macedonian: пла́шило n (plášilo)

standard of performance set up as a mark to be aimed at — see benchmark

unidentified aircraft

Finnish: kohde (fi)
Macedonian: неу́тврден авио́н m (neútvrden avión)
Russian: неопо́знанный самолёт m (neopóznannyj samoljót)
Spanish: aeronave no identificada

enemy aircraft

Finnish: maali (fi) (as target), viholliskone (generally)
Macedonian: неприја́телски авио́н m (neprijátelski avión)
Spanish: aeronave enemiga f

a score of one over par in golf

Finnish: bogey, bogi
French: bogey (fr), boguey (fr)
Icelandic: skolli m
Irish: bógaí m
Japanese: ボギー (ja) (bogī)
Macedonian: бо́ги n (bógi)
Russian: бо́гги n (bóggi)

booger — see booger

Verb

bogey (third-person singular simple present bogeys, present participle bogeying, simple past and past participle bogeyed or bogied)

(golf, ambitransitive) To make a bogey on (a particular hole).

Translations

to make a bogey

Finnish: tehdä bogi

References

^ Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “bogey”, in Online Etymology Dictionary, retrieved 12 June 2025.
^ “bogey n.²”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present, retrieved 21 November 2024.
^
^{The template Template:R:Partridge New/2/full does not use the parameter(s): volume=
Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.}Eric Partridge (2013), “bogey”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd edition, volumes I–II, Abingdon, Oxon.; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 242.

Etymology 2

Clipping of bog-standard +‎ -ey (diminutive suffix).

Noun

bogey (plural bogeys)

(UK, engineering) A bog-standard (representative) specimen taken from the center of production.

Translations

representative specimen

Finnish: näyte (fi)

Etymology 3

From Dharug bugi- (“to bathe, dive”).

Verb

bogey (third-person singular simple present bogeys, present participle bogeying, simple past and past participle bogeyed)

(Australia) To swim; to bathe. [from 18th c.]

Noun

bogey (plural bogeys)

(Australia) A swim or bathe; a bath. [from 19th c.]
- 1994, Rita Huggins & Jackie Huggins, Auntie Rita, in Heiss & Minter, Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature, Allen & Unwin 2008, p. 151:
  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.

Etymology 4

A variant of bogie.

Noun

bogey (plural bogeys)

Alternative spelling of bogie (“one of two sets of wheels under a locomotive or railcar; also, a structure with axles and wheels under a locomotive, railcar, or semi which provides support and reduces vibration for the vehicle”).
Alternative spelling of bogie (“hand-operated truck or trolley”).
(British, dated, India, rail transport) Alternative spelling of bogie (“railway carriage”).
- 2020 January 30, “Upgrading Kolkata's Tram Network”, in C40 Cities‎^[4], archived from the original on 25 February 2024:
  Upgrading the tram bogeys to air-conditioned bogeys costs the State Government approximately INR 25,00,000/- per bogey.

References

^ United States Department of Defense Air Land Sea Application Center (May 2020), “Multi-service Brevity Codes”, in Brevity: Multi-service Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures for Multi-service Brevity Codes‎^[1], archived from the original on 30 June 2021, page 6: “BOGEY: [A/A] [S/A] [SO] A CONTACT whose identity is unknown.”

“bogey”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
“bogey”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Finnish

Etymology

From English bogey.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈboɡi/, [ˈbo̞ɡi]
Rhymes: -oɡi
Syllabification^(key): bo‧gey
Hyphenation^(key): bo‧gey

Noun

bogey

(golf) bogey

Declension

Seldom inflected in cases other than genitive singular (bogeyn) or nominative plural (bogeyt).
For other inflected forms use bogi.

Synonyms

bogi

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English bogey.

Pronunciation

(France) IPA^(key): /bɔ.ɡɛ/
(Quebec) IPA^(key): /bɔ.ɡe/, /bɔ.ɡi/

Noun

bogey m (plural bogeys)

(golf) bogey

Alternative forms

boguey

Coordinate terms

Yola

Etymology

Borrowed from Irish bógaí. Cognate with English bogie.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈboːɡiː/

Noun

bogey

Small stove in a boat.

References

Diarmaid Ó Muirithe (1990), “A Modern Glossary of the Dialect of Forth and Bargy”, in lrish University Review‎^[5], volume 20, number 1, Edinburgh University Press, page 154

[1] Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “bogey”, in Online Etymology Dictionary, retrieved 12 June 2025.

[2] “bogey n.²”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present, retrieved 21 November 2024.

[3] {The template Template:R:Partridge New/2/full does not use the parameter(s): volume=
Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.}Eric Partridge (2013), “bogey”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd edition, volumes I–II, Abingdon, Oxon.; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 242.

[4] United States Department of Defense Air Land Sea Application Center (May 2020), “Multi-service Brevity Codes”, in Brevity: Multi-service Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures for Multi-service Brevity Codes‎^[1], archived from the original on 30 June 2021, page 6: “BOGEY: [A/A] [S/A] [SO] A CONTACT whose identity is unknown.”

[1]

[2]

[3]

[n 1]