What does the word quagmire mean?

Usage examples for quagmire

  1. Hugo advanced, dismounting for the purpose, but sank almost directly in a quagmire covered with snow, and was drawn out with difficulty. – The Rival Heirs being the Third and Last Chronicle of Aescendune by A. D. Crake
  2. In winter you approach them through a quagmire; in summer, you dare not breathe in their pestilential vicinity; and yet there is a sort of dead beauty about the place, something hallowed as well as sad, which seizes on the fancy. – Walks in Rome by Augustus J.C. Hare