boggle the mind

Idioms & Phrases

boggle the mind

Bewilder or astonish with complexity, novelty, or the like, as in The very magnitude of the Milky Way boggles the mind. The source of this usage is unclear, as the verb to boggle has several other seemingly unrelated meaningsto shy away, to hesitate, to bungle. [Second half of 1900s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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