are concerned. They are mentioned by Parker [1781] in his View of Society, II., 70.
2. A policeman. For synonyms, see Beak, sense 1.
1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, bk. III., ch. i., p. 254. 'Now, if you or I was to do such a dodge as that, we should have the body-snatchers (police officers) after us.'
3. (American.)—A generally objectionable individual. This variety is especially known as a mean body-snatcher (q.v.).
4. (popular.)—A violator of graves; a 'resurrectionist.'
1833. Sir F. Head, Bubbles from the Brunnen, 126. Any one of our body-snatchers would have rubbed his rough hands. [m.]
1863. Reader, Aug. 22. At that time (1827-28) . . . body-snatching became a trade.
5. (common.)—An undertaker. For synonyms, see Cold cook.
Bog, subs. (prison).—1. The works
at Dartmoor, on which convicts
labour; during recent years a
large quantity of land has been
reclaimed in this way.
1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 158. These were the men destined for outdoor work, the bogs, as the places where the different outside gangs worked were called [at Dartmoor].
2. (low.)—An abbreviated form of bog-house (q.v.), or bog-shop.
Verb.—To ease oneself; to evacuate.—See Bury a Quaker.
Bogey.—See Bogy.
Boggle-De-Botch, Boggledy-Botch,
subs. (colloquial).—A
bungle; 'mess'; 'hash.' [From
boggle, 'to fumble,' 'to bungle,'
+ botch 'to bungle' or
'to construct clumsily.'] Boggle
by itself is more frequently
employed.
1834. Miss Edgeworth, Helen, ch. xxvi. A fine boggle-de-botch I have made of it. . . . I am aware it is not a canonical word,—classical, I mean; nor in nor out of any dictionary perhaps—but when people are warm, they cannot stand picking terms.
Bog-House, Bog-Shop, subs. (low).—A
privy; a necessary house.
The term, as will be seen, is an
old one. [The derivation is
probably from bog, a morass of
decaying matter; a soft, spongy
place.] For synonyms, see Bury
a Quaker and Mrs. Jones.
1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. xii., p. 123 (1874). Fearing I should catch cold, they out of pity covered me warm in a bogg-house.
1703. Ward, London Spy, pt. III., p. 47. Its walls being adorn'd with as many unsavoury Finger-dabs as an Inns of Court Bog-house.
1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict., 2 ed. Bog-house, a privy, or necessary-house.
Boglander, subs. (old).—An Irishman.
[From the boggy and
marshy character of a considerable
portion of the Emerald
Isle.] Cf., Bog-trotter.
1698-1700. Ward, London Spy, pt. XVI., p. 383. [Boglander is the name applied to an Irishman in this work.]
1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bog Lander, an Irishman, Ireland being famous for its large bogs which furnish the chief fuel in many parts of that kingdom.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. [The same definition given as in Grose.]
Bog Latin, subs. (Irish).—A spurious mode of speech simulating the Latin in construction.—See Dog Latin.
