embolatar
em-boh-lah-TAHRverbColloquial
A Colombian Spanish slang term. Browse all Colombian slang.
What it means
To mislay something, or for something to go missing in a muddle rather than by theft: 'se me embolató el recibo'.
Estar embolatado: to be snowed under, tangled up in things, unreachable. This is the commoner form, and it is the standard excuse for not having replied to anyone.
To fob someone off with delays — a bureaucracy that embolata your paperwork is losing it on purpose.
Examples with translations
Se me embolataron las llaves.
My keys have gone walkabout.
Perdón, he estado embolatado con la mudanza.
Sorry, I've been swamped with the move.
Llevan un año embolatándome la respuesta.
They've been stringing me along for a year.
Note: The bureaucratic sense — deliberate, not careless.
Where it comes from
Colombian, of uncertain derivation; bolate, 'a fuss or commotion', is recorded in the same speech area and is the likeliest base. Almost unknown outside Colombia, which makes it a reliable tell.
Other forms
- Spellings and variants:
- embolatado, bolate
- Similar terms:
- extraviar, enredar