What is "bog"

bog \bog\ (b[o^]g), n. [Ir. & Gael. bog soft, tender, moist: cf. Ir. bogach bog, moor, marsh, Gael. bogan quagmire.]

1. A quagmire filled with decayed moss and other vegetable matter; wet spongy ground where a heavy body is apt to sink; a marsh; a morass.

   Appalled with thoughts of bog, or caverned pit, Of treacherous earth, subsiding where they tread.
   --R. Jago.

2. A little elevated spot or clump of earth, roots, and grass, in a marsh or swamp. [Local, U. S.] Bog bean. See Buck bean. Bog bumper (bump, to make a loud noise), Bog blitter, Bog bluiter, Bog jumper, the bittern. [Prov.] Bog butter, a hydrocarbon of butterlike consistence found in the peat bogs of Ireland. Bog earth (Min.), a soil composed for the most part of silex and partially decomposed vegetable fiber. --P. Cyc. Bog moss. (Bot.) Same as Sphagnum. Bog myrtle (Bot.), the sweet gale. Bog ore. (Min.)

   1. An ore of iron found in boggy or swampy land; a variety of brown iron ore, or limonite.

   2. Bog manganese, the hydrated peroxide of manganese.

      Bog rush (Bot.), any rush growing in bogs; saw grass.

      Bog spavin. See under Spavin.

c.1500, from Gaelic and Irish bogach "bog," from adjective bog "soft, moist," from PIE *bhugh-, from root *bheugh- "to bend" (see bow (v.)). Bog-trotter applied to the wild Irish from 1670s.

"to sink (something or someone) in a bog," c.1600, from bog (n.). Intransitive use from c.1800. Related: Bogged; bogging.

Etymology 1 n. 1 An expanse of marshland. 2 (context Ireland British New Zealand Australia coarse slang English) A toilet. 3 (context US dialect English) A little elevated spot or clump of earth, roots, and grass, in a marsh or swamp. vb. 1 (context intransitive informal English) To become (figuratively or literally) mired or stuck. 2 (context transitive British informal English) To make a mess of something. Etymology 2

vb. (context euphemistic slang British with "off" English) To go away.

n. wet spongy ground of decomposing vegetation; has poorer drainage than a swamp; soil is unfit for cultivation but can be cut and dried and used for fuel [syn: peat bog]

1. v. cause to slow down or get stuck; "The vote would bog down the house" [syn: bog down]

2. get stuck while doing something; "She bogged down many times while she wrote her dissertation" [syn: bog down]

Bog is a wetland of mosses or lichens over waterlogged peat.

Bog or The Bog may also refer to:

Bog is a horror movie about an aquatic creature. The film was shot in 1978 around Harshaw, Wisconsin.

Bog is the fourth studio album by the Croatian alternative rock band Pips, Chips & Videoclips, released in November 1999. The album features two singles which were later released separately, "Narko" (March 2000) and "Motorcycle Boy" (May 2001).

Bog won the 2000 Porin Awards in the Best Rock Album and Best Graphic Design categories.

A bog is a wetland that accumulates peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses, and in a majority of cases, sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, quagmire, and muskeg; alkaline mires are called fens. They are frequently covered in ericaceous shrubs rooted in the sphagnum moss and peat. The gradual accumulation of decayed plant material in a bog functions as a carbon sink.

Bogs occur where the water at the ground surface is acidic and low in nutrients. In some cases, the water is derived entirely from precipitation, in which case they are termed ombrotrophic (rain-fed). Water flowing out of bogs has a characteristic brown colour, which comes from dissolved peat tannins. In general, the low fertility and cool climate results in relatively slow plant growth, but decay is even slower owing to the saturated soil. Hence peat accumulates. Large areas of landscape can be covered many metres deep in peat.

Bogs have distinctive assemblages of plant and animal species, and are of high importance for biodiversity, particularly in landscapes that are otherwise settled and farmed.