Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Vulgar Slang A sodomite.
- n. Slang A contemptible or disreputable person.
- n. Slang A fellow; a chap: "He's a silly little bugger, then” ( John le Carré).
- v. To practice sodomy.
- v. To practice sodomy with.
- v. To damn.
- bugger off Chiefly British Slang To leave someone alone; go away.
- n. One who installs electronic bugs.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One guilty of the crime of bestiality: vulgarly used as a general term of contumely, without reference to its meaning.
- n. A collector of bugs or insects; an entomologist.
Wiktionary
- n. A heretic.
- n. Someone who commits buggery; a sodomite.
- n. A foolish or worthless person or thing;
- n. Someone viewed with affection: chap.
- n. A damn, anything at all.
- n. Someone who is very fond of something
- n. A rough synonym for whippersnapper.
- v. To sodomize.
- v. To break or ruin.
- v. To be surprised.
- v. To feel contempt for some person or thing.
- v. To feel frustration with something, or to consider that something is futile.
- v. To be fatigued.
- interj. An expression of annoyance or displeasure.
- interj. Cutesy expression of very mild annoyance.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One guilty of buggery or unnatural vice; a sodomite.
- n. A wretch; -- sometimes used humorously or in playful disparagement.
WordNet 3.0
- v. practice anal sex upon
- n. someone who engages in anal copulation (especially a male who engages in anal copulation with another male)
Etymologies
- Middle English bougre, heretic, from Old French boulgre, from Medieval Latin Bulgarus; see Bulgar.
Examples
“If you are just starting out, and haven't mastered the subtlties, a wooly bugger is a good alla round fly to start out with.”
“Women have to carry the child for 9 months, so they better make sure the little bugger is well cared for.”
“But wait, that bugger is gone already, Too bad, so sad.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Would “Deem & Pass” Survive Judicial Review?
“That little bugger is home for a day or two wrapping up some things and moi get to see him. ciao”
“What a disgusting SOB that bugger is … has always been, far as that goes.”
“The bugger is that these two songs sat side by side on the same album.”
“(Seriously, the little bugger is getting far too close to my Rexona zone) … being the chronically envious type that I am, afflicted by that greenest of the seven deadly sins …”
“Because of the action of the long flowing tail the bugger is more popular with fisherman.”
“Yes | No | Report from Visitor wrote 2 years 1 week ago that other deer is a gnarly lookin bugger”
“A stonefly bugger is one fly you always want to buy, what a pain it is to make those!”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘bugger’.
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UK Usage - Find US Equivalent
All these terms have a (different) American English equivalent. Wonder if you can identify them?
abridgement (abri..., accoutrement, accoutre, acknowledgement (..., opposite, advert, adaptor, adapter, sticking plaster, advertise, adviser (advisor ..., adze, aesthete and 1196 more...
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henryar's list
marmoleum, menagerie, cyan, ochre, pilfer, discombobulate, loquacious, iridescent, amethyst, derelict, botulism, equilibrium and 240 more...
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"Queen's" English
Collection of words from Old Blighty
sorted, sketchy, mate, oi, innit, ol' chum, brilliant, wicked, arse, bloody, bollocks, wanker and 12 more...
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britishisms
A tip of my hat to the snarkiest of English dialects. Here here!
Ponce, snog, bloody, barmy, blasted, blooming, bleeding, knackered, poppycock, wanker, tosser, cracked and 52 more...

ruzuzu Poor little guys? Oct 25, 2010
yarb blighter is Brit too isn't it?
If it's boys, maybe mites or tykes?
Tough one. Oct 25, 2010
bilby the poor blighters Oct 25, 2010
chained_bear Okay, I know what this word means according to dictionaries, but when a mother says it of her young, rambunctious boys (for example), that's certainly NOT the meaning she's ascribing.
I'm looking for a synonym in the phrase "the poor buggers," that doesn't use the original word I was thinking of ("bastards") and does not sound British ("sods"). Any suggestions?
I also found this interesting conversation. Oct 25, 2010
yarb (liquor buggers us,
nathless 'Human kind
cannot bear very
much reality')...
- Peter Reading, 5x5x5x5x5, 1983 Jul 4, 2008