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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BOUGAR, Booger, Boggar, Buggar, Bugger, n. Also bouger (Dmf. 1820 Blackwood's Mag. (Nov.) 154). A house-rafter. Gen. in pl. and used to indicate the couples, the wood under the slates or thatch and (in Rxb.) the joists. Once Gen.Sc., now obs. or obsol. [′bugɑr, ′bɔgɑr, ′bʌgɑr; also with ending -ər]Sc. 1808 Jam.:
Bougars, cross spars, forming part of the roof of a cottage, used instead of laths, on which wattling or twigs are placed, and above these divots, and then straw or thatch.Sc. 1832 A. Henderson Sc. Proverbs 161:
I'll tak a rung frae the bougars o' the house, and rizle your riggin wi't.Sc. 1873 Notes and Queries 4th Ser. XII. 306:
Said of a well-filled church: I hae heard the boogers [beams] cracking at 6 o'clock o' the mornin'.Mearns³ 1914:
Gang up intae the buggers o' the ruif.Ags. 1914 T.S.D.C. I. 23:
Boggars, rafters of a house.Knr. 1925 “H. Haliburton” Horace in Homespun 224:
Noo the cock o' John Tamson's toun, Fra his perch i' the bougars aboon, . . . He flew like auld Sautern doun!Ayr. 1811 W. Aiton Gen. View Agric. Ayr. 114:
The whole wooden part, or inside of the roof, was denominated the buggars.Rxb. 1820 Edin. Mag. (June) 533/2:
A loud and “gowstie wind . . . soupit owre the houses, and often tirled the thack to the bare bougars.”ne., w.Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.:
‡Bougar, a tie-beam of a (house-) roof.

Combs.: (1) bougar-stakes, “the lower part of cupples, or rafters, that were set on [reached to] the ground in old houses” (Teviotd. 1825 Jam.²); (2) bougar-, buggarstick(s) (given as obsol. by Watson Rxb. W.-B. 1923, p. 72), “strong pieces of wood fixed to the couples, or rafters, of a house by wooden pins; perhaps originally the same with Bougar-stakes” (Rxb. 1825 Jam.²).(1) Peb. 1805 J. Nicol Poems I. 148:
For stride-legs, on a bougar-stake, Sat Cupid, wild an' clever.