BOGGLING ADJECTIVE

In colloquial use: staggering, stunning, overwhelming. Etymology: Formed by dropping the word mind from mind-boggling, itself a fashionable expression since the mid sixties. History and Usage: Boggling started to be used following nouns other than mind, and also on its own, in the mid seventies. By the end of the eighties, mind-boggling seemed quite dated, while boggling was commonly used, especially to describe a very large statistic or sum of money--in fact anything that would make you boggle-eyed with amazement or surprise. Although essentially a colloquial usage, boggling is found in print, especially in journalism. Per-mile costs fell fractionally as a result of the additional travel, whose total was a boggling 1.526 trillion miles. New York Times 18 Aug. 1985, section 5, p. 9 Serious damage can mean even more boggling bills, but at least your insurance should cover it. Which? Mar. 1990, p. 144