bogart
English
editEtymology
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From actor Humphrey Bogart, from Dutch surname Bogaard (“keeper of an orchard”), from boomgaard (“treegarden, orchard”), cognate to English boom (“piece of wood”)/beam + garden.
Senses of selfishness and excess evolved from the original 1960s use meaning “keep a joint in the mouth instead of passing it on”, recalling the actor’s signature practice of keeping a cigarette dangling from his mouth even while speaking. Other senses of “bullying” or “tough guy” also originated in the 1960s and recall the actor’s various movie roles.
Another potential origin of the vernacular comes from Humphrey Bogart's role in the film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) in which his character, Dobbs, becomes increasingly selfish with the gold mine that he shares with his two partners.
Or it could be from The Big Sleep (1946) in which Lauren Bacall lights a cigarette for him while he is tied up, forcing him to dangle the cigarette from his lips for the rest of the scene. According to an interview with "The Fraternity of Man" bandmember Lawrence "Stash" Wagner, he "got down on my knees and begged" the ABC record label to put their song "Don't Bogart That Joint" on a single, agreeing to change the title to "Don't Bogart Me." On the origin on the song, he said, "The band was smoking some pot in our rehearsal house up in Laurel Canyon, when Elliot [Ingber] turned to me and said, 'Hey man, don’t bogart that thing.' I asked him, what does ‘bogart’ mean? He said, “You know, like Humphrey Bogart always had a cigarette in his hand or hanging from his lips when talking. Well, you were hanging onto that joint while your lips were flapping.' I said, 'Cool, we should write a song using Bogart.'" Source.
Pronunciation
editAudio (General Australian): (file)
Noun
editbogart (plural bogarts)
- (slang) An obnoxious, selfish and overbearing person; an attention hog.
Translations
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Verb
editbogart (third-person singular simple present bogarts, present participle bogarting, simple past and past participle bogarted)
- (slang) To selfishly take or keep something; to hog; especially to hold a joint (marijuana) dangling between the lips instead of passing it on.
- Dude, don’t bogart the chocolate fudge!
- Don’t bogart the can, man.
- (slang) To get something by bullying, intimidation; be a tough guy.
- He tried to bogart his way in.
- 1990, Stephen Dobyns, The House on Alexandrine, Wayne State University Press, →ISBN, page 152:
- “He comes trying to bogart his way into my house and he smashes two of my wWindows, two great big windows.”
- 2013, Sandra Kitt, Family Affairs, Open Road Media, →ISBN:
- David studied Kel for a moment and considered the question. His former running buddy was a big man who'd learned early how to use his size to intimidate people. To bogart his way past resistance to instant gratification, whether it was for advantage in a one-on-one at the hoops or with a woman in bed.
- 2014, Travon Pugh, Have Heart Have Money, Queen C's Publishing, →ISBN, page 33:
- He sat patiently and rode it out, inching his way along, drinking a Red bull and listening to the news radio until he was able to bogart his way over to the lane on his right that was moving at a faster pace.
Quotations
editAn early, prominent use of the term in reference to hogging a joint (marijuana cigarette) appeared in the lyrics of the song “Don’t Bogart Me” (also known as "Don't Bogart That Joint") by the American band Fraternity of Man. The song was released on LP in 1968, and subsequently used in the 1969 film Easy Rider. In 1978, Little Feat's live album Waiting For Columbus included a brief cover of the Fraternity of Man song. In more modern times (2010) it appeared in American rapper, Eminem's song titled, No Love featuring fellow American rapper Lil Wayne where Eminem closes a verse stating: "Cold-hearted from the day I bogarted the game I so started to rock fellow". In the television series The Mentalist (Season 5, Episode 10), Patrick Jane, a consultant with the California Bureau of Investigation, informs a tobacco company that "someone bogarted your stash" of marijuana.
Synonyms
edit- (selfishly keep): hog