Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BOD'LEI-AN, a.

Pertaining to Sir Thomas Bodley, who founded a celebrated library in the 16th century.

BOD'Y, n. [Sax. bodig, stature, trunk, spine, body; that which is set or fixed.]

1. The frame of an animal; the material substance of an animal, in distinction from the living principle of beasts, and the soul of man. Be not anxious for your body. – Matthew. Luke.
2. Matter, as opposed to spirit. – Hooker.
3. A person; a human being; sometimes alone, more generally with some or no; as, somebody; nobody.
4. Reality, as opposed to representation. A shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. – Col. ii.
5. A collective mass; a number of individuals or particulars united; as, the body of mankind. Christians united or the Church is called the body, of which each Christian is a member, and Christ the head. – 1 Cor. xii. 12, 27.
6. The main army, in distinction from the wings, van or rear. Also, any number of forces under one commander. – Clarendon.
7. A corporation; a number of men, united by a common tie, by one form of government, or by occupation; as, the legislative body; the body of the clergy; body corporate; body politic.
8. The main part; the bulk; as, the body of a tree; the body of a coach, of a ship, &c.
9. Any extended solid substance; matter; any substance or mass distinct from others; as, metalline body; a floating body; a moving body; a light body; a heavy body.
10. A pandect; a general collection; a code; a system; as a body of laws; a body of divinity.
11. Strength; as, wine of a good body.
12. Among painters, colors bear a body, when they are capable of being ground so fine, and of being mixed so entirely with oil, as to seem only a very thick oil of the same color. – Encyc.
13. The unrenewed part of man, or sensual affections. But I keep under my body. – 1 Cor. ix.
14. The extent; the limits. Cause to come here on such a day, twelve free and lawful men … from the body of your county. – Form of a Venire Facias.

BOD'Y, v.t.

To produce in some form. Imagination bodies forth the forms of things. – Shak.

BOD'Y-CLOTHES, n. [plur. body and cloth.]

Clothing or covering for the body, as for a horse. – Addison.

BOD'Y-GUARD, n.

The guard that protects or defends the person; the life guard. Hence, security. – Porteus.

BOG, n. [Ir. bog, soft; bogach, a marsh; bogha, a bow; boghaim, to bend; Sax. bugan; D. boogen, to bend. Soft is flexible, yielding to pressure, bending. See Bow.]

1. A quagmire covered with grass or other plants. It is defined by marsh and morass, but differs from a marsh, as a part from the whole. Wet grounds are bogs, which are the softest and too soft to bear a man; marshes or fens, which are less soft, but very wet; and swamps, which are soft spungy land, upon the surface, but sustain man and beast, and are often mowed.
2. A little elevated spot or clump of earth, in marshes and swamps, filled with roots and grass. [This is a common use of the word in New England.]

BOG, v.t.

To whelm or plunge, as in mud and mire. – Jonson.

BOG'-BEAN, n. [bog and bean; called buck-bean.]

Menyanthes, a plant, the marsh-trefoil, which grows in moist and marshy places. – Fam. of Plants.

BOG'-BER-RY, n. [bog and berry.]

Vaccinium, a name of the cranberry growing in low lands and marshy places. – Fam. of Plants.

BOG'GLE, v.i. [Qu. W. bwgwl, a terrifying.]

1. To doubt; to hesitate; to stop, as if afraid to proceed, or as if impeded by unforeseen difficulties; to play fast and loose. We boggle at every unusual appearance. – Granville.
2. To dissemble. – Howell.

BOG'GLE, v.t.

To embarrass with difficulties; a popular or vulgar use of the word in the United States.

BOG'GLED, pp.

Perplexed and impeded by sudden difficulties; embarrassed.

BOG'GLER, n.

A doubter; a timorous man. – Shak.

BOG'GLING, ppr.

Starting or stopping at difficulties; hesitating.

BOG'GLISH, a.

Doubtful. [Not used.] – Taylor.

BOG'GY, a. [from bog.]

Containing bogs; full of bogs.

BOG'HOUSE, n. [bog and house.]

A house of office.

BOG'-LAND, a. [bog and land.]

Living in or pertaining to a marshy country. – Dryden.

BO'GLE, or BOG'GLE, n. [W. bwg, a bugbear or goblin.]

A bugbear.

BOG'-ORE, n.

An ore of iron found in boggy or swampy land.

BOG'-RUSH, n. [bog and rush.]

1. A rush that grows in bogs, the Schœnus. – Pennant.
2. A bird, a species of warbler, of the size of a wren, of a testaceous brown color, seen among the bog rushes of Schonen in Sweden. – Pennant.

BOG'-SPAV-IN, n. [bog and spavin.]

In horses, an encysted tumor on the inside of the hough, containing a gelatinous matter. – Encyc.

BOG'-TROT-TER, n. [bog and trot.]

One who lives in a boggy country. – Johnson.

BOG'-WHORT, n. [bog and whort.]

The bilberry or whortleberry growing in low lands. – Fam. of Plants.

BO-HEA', n. [Grosier informs us that this is named from a mountain in China, called Vou-y or Voo-y. Vol. i. 467.]

A sort of coarse or low-priced tea from China; a sort of black tea.