bugger up

English

    Pronunciation

    • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈbʌɡə(ɹ) ʌp/
    • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈbʌɡəɹ ʌp/
    • Audio (Australia):(file)
    • Hyphenation: bug‧ger up

    Verb

    bugger up (third-person singular simple present buggers up, present participle buggering up, simple past and past participle buggered up)

    1. (UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, informal) To break or spoil something, or make it inoperative, useless etc.
      Synonym: (Southern US) booger up
      I've buggered up the sudoku somehow and can't finish it.
      • 2016 March 15, David Dale, “John Jarratt talks new show Territory Cops and a murderous return in Wolf Creek”, in The Sydney Morning Herald‎[1], archived from the original on 11 January 2026:
        Well, he only buggers up one sentence, and that's the first one. He says, 'Shut up, blek.' But from that point on, it was OK because I helped him with it. If I'd been there, I would have told him to say, 'Shut up, black', exactly the same as an American accent.
    2. (UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, informal) To injure or harm (someone).

    Descendants

    • Bislama: bagarap
    • Tok Pisin: bagarap

    Translations

    This page is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.