Word of the Day

: April 23, 2021

bogart

verb BOH-gahrt

What It Means

1 : to cause (someone) to do something by means of force or coercion : bully

2 : to use the entirety of or consume without sharing

bogart in Context

"At the end of a long day, it's tempting to dive into your social feeds or Netflix queue the minute you've finished eating. But back before screens bogarted all our free time, an after-dinner stroll was a popular activity and one associated with improved health and digestion." — Markham Reid, Time, 26 Sept. 2018

"'Are you a woman or a detective?' Wellington asks during, like, his millionth bout of frustration. 'Why should there be a distinction?' Eliza retorts, and this riposte-free game continues to go round and round, with Eliza bogarting clues and dancing a few steps ahead of him at every turn." — Melanie McFarland, Salon, 17 Jan. 2021

Did You Know?

The legendary film actor Humphrey Bogart was known for playing a range of tough characters in a series of films throughout the 1940s and 1950s, including The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, and The African Queen. The men he portrayed often possessed a cool, hardened exterior that occasionally let forth a suggestion of romantic or idealistic sentimentality. Bogart also had a unique method of smoking cigarettes in these pictures—letting the butt dangle from his mouth without removing it until it was almost entirely consumed. It is believed that this habit inspired the current meaning of bogart, which was once limited to the phrase "Don't bogart that joint [=marijuana cigarette]," as popularized by a song on the soundtrack to the film Easy Rider. Today, bogart can be applied to hogging almost anything.