becroggle

English

Etymology

From be- +‎ croggle.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɒɡəl

Verb

becroggle (third-person singular simple present becroggles, present participle becroggling, simple past and past participle becroggled)

1. (dated, fandom slang) To cause shock or confusion sufficient to cause brief paralysis.
   • 1982, Marion Zimmer Bradley, “Darkover Retrospective”, in The Planet Savers/Sword of Aldones, page 347:

     When I finally figured out that she was asking if I was sad at not winning a Nebula, I was becroggled. I finally found my voice and told her that in twenty-five years of reading and writing science fiction, I had heard a hell of a lot of gauche questions, butthat really took the cake.

   • 1996 September 20, Lee Billings, “Genderless nouns (was Re: English ladies)”, in alt.usage.english‎^[1] (Usenet), message-ID <51t4ol$d3h@news.chattanooga.net>:

     I'm becroggled by the scorn heaped upon the perfectly useful word "salesperson"... but that's neither here nor there.

   • 2005 December 21, Susan, “Re: AKICIF: Cooking. Specifically, shortening substitutes.”, in rec.arts.sf.fandom‎^[2] (Usenet), message-ID <1135194298.788220.233450@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>:

     I'm becroggled. I've never made a pie crust with anything other than butter.

References

• Jeff Prucher, editor (2007), “becroggle”, in Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Oxford, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, pages 14 and 29.