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boggart

noun

Etymology

As a monster that feeds on fear, coined by British novelist J. K. Rowling in 1999 in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Definitions

  1. Alternative spelling of boggard (A bogey, a ghost)

    • OH! Maeſter—ſtrange things late I've ſeen— / And oft has boggart-haunted been ! / I'm ſure I's falt when ſtory's-tauld, / 'Till blude run aw' through veins ſo cauld !
    • “[…]Are na ye shamed, ye weak gawly, that ye darena stir ower the threshold for fear of a boggart?”

  2. A shapeshifting monster that feeds on fear.

    • "A boogeyman," I said. "Sometimes known as a boggle or a boggart. It's a weak form of phobophage - a fear-eater, mostly insubstantial."
    • I pushed open the lid, half-expecting a Boggart to burst out of the trunk, taking the form of my worst nightmare.
    • The boggart has brought you here because it hopes to feed off you like it has been trying to feed off me.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for boggart. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA