different between bother vs botheration

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Scots bauther, bather (“to bother”). Origin unknown. Perhaps related to Scots pother (“to make a stir or commotion, bustle”), also of unknown origin. Compare English pother (“to poke, prod”), variant of potter (“to poke”). More at potter. Perhaps related to Irish bodhaire (“noise”), Irish bodhraim (“to deafen, annoy”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: b??-th?r, IPA^(key): /?b?ð??/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): [?b?ð?(?)]
• (UK) IPA^(key): [?b?ð?(?)]
  • Rhymes: -?ð?(r)
• (US) IPA^(key): [?b?ð?]

Verb

bother (third-person singular simple present bothers, present participle bothering, simple past and past participle bothered)

1. (transitive) To annoy, to disturb, to irritate.

2. (intransitive) To feel care or anxiety; to make or take trouble; to be troublesome.
3. (intransitive) To do something which is of negligible inconvenience.

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive or the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Synonyms

• (annoy): annoy, disturb, irritate, put out, vex; see also Thesaurus:annoy
• (make or take trouble): care, mind; see also Thesaurus:care

Derived terms

• bebother

Translations

References

Noun

bother (countable and uncountable, plural bothers)

1. Fuss, ado.

   There was a bit of bother at the hairdresser's when they couldn't find my appointment in the book.
2. Trouble, inconvenience.

   Yes, I can do that for you - it's no bother.

Synonyms

• (fuss, ado): See also Thesaurus:commotion
• (trouble, inconvenience): See also Thesaurus:nuisance

Derived terms

• bothersome
• spot of bother

Translations

Interjection

bother!

1. A mild expression of annoyance.
   • 1926, A A Milne, Winnie the Pooh, Methuen & Co., Ltd., Chapter 2 ...in which Pooh goes visiting and gets into a tight place:

     "Oh, help!" said Pooh. "I'd better go back."

     "Oh, bother!" said Pooh. "I shall have to go on."

     "I can't do either!" said Pooh. "Oh, help and bother!"

Synonyms

• botheration, blast, dang (US), darn, drat, phooey, fiddlesticks

Translations

Related terms

• be bothered
• bothered
• bothersome

Anagrams

• boreth

English

Etymology

From bother +? -ation (suffix indicating an action or process, or its result).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?b?ð???e??n?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?b?ð???e??(?)n/
• Rhymes: -e???n
• Hyphenation: bo?ther?a?tion

Interjection

botheration (originally Ireland, dated, often humorous)

1. A mild expression of annoyance or exasperation: bother!
   • 1918, Katherine Mansfield, "Prelude" in Selected Stories, Oxford World's Classics paperback, 2002, p. 120

     Botheration! How she had crumpled her skirt, kneeling in that idiotic way.

   • 1955, C. S. Lewis, The Magician's Nephew, Collins, 1998, Chapter 3,

     "Blast and botheration!" exclaimed Digory. "What's gone wrong now? [...]"

Translations

Noun

botheration (countable and uncountable, plural botherations) (originally Ireland, dated, often humorous)

1. (uncountable) The state of being bothered; annoyance, vexation.

   Synonyms: irritation; see also Thesaurus:annoyance

   • 1803, William Blake, Letter to his brother James Blake dated 30 January, 1803, in The Poetry and Prose of William Blake, edited by David V. Erdman, New York: Doubleday Anchor, 1970, p. 696,

     I write in great haste & with a head full of botheration about various projected works [...]

   • 1982, Saul Bellow, The Dean's December, New York: Pocket Books, 1983, Chapter 4, p. 59,

     At home he read too many papers. He was better off without his daily dose of world botheration, sham happenings, without newspaper phrases.

2. (countable) An act of bothering or annoying.
3. (countable) A person or thing that causes bother, inconvenience, trouble, etc.

   Synonym: nuisance

   • 1954, Peter De Vries, The Tunnel of Love, New York: Popular Library, Chapter Six, p. 63,

     [...] the by-products and botherations that go with pleasures make it hardly worth it. Sex is supposedly life's greatest pleasure and look what it gives you.

Translations

References