bogey

Meaning

Noun

1. A ghost, goblin, or other hostile supernatural creature.
2. (archaic, capitalized, often, usually, with-definite-article) The Devil.
3. (figuratively) A bugbear: any terrifying thing.
4. (British, slang) A police officer.
5. A standard of performance set up as a mark to be aimed at in competition.
6. An unidentified aircraft, especially as observed as a spot on a radar screen and suspected to be hostile.
7. (proscribed, slang) Synonym of bandit: an enemy aircraft.
8. The notional opponent of a golfer playing alone.
9. A score of one over par on a hole.
10. (UK) A piece of mucus in or removed from the nostril; a booger.

Verb

To make a bogey on (a particular hole).

Verb

To swim; to bathe.

Synonyms

bogy

bogie

bugbear

ogre

ghost

👻

genie

🧞

hobgoblin

bogeyman

spook

bugaboo

snot

goblin

boogeyman

booger

ogress

sprite

wraith

nasal mucus

booger

apparition

bogy

cell

data

element

gnome

monster

mucus

phantasm

phantom

pixy

principle

rudiment

specter

spectre

spirit

swim

🏊

Translations

φάντασμα

caccola

Bogey

moco

αστυφύλακας

Popel

σκιάχτρο

Kobold

bogie

Rotze

Rotz

moc

στοιχείο

Schreckgespenst

Nasenschleim

Pronounced as (IPA)

/bəʊɡi/

Etymology

Cognate with Irish: bagairt

Cognate with Norwegian: bugge

Cognate with Low German: Bögge

Cognate with Swiss German: Böögg

In summary

Probably related to or alteration of bogle, akin to or from a variant of Middle English bugge (“frightening specter, scarecrow”) (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. 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.