English

Alternative forms

• bugaboo

Noun

bug-a-boo ‎(plural bug-a-boos)

1. A mythical, nocturnal creature; a hobgoblin.
   • 1776, William Kenrick, London review of English and foreign literature, page 316:

     The German ubu, as well as the French bibou, is also used for bug-a-boo, hobgoblin, or any other fantastical, terrific nocturnal object.

2. Any imagined fear or threat, or a fear presumed larger than it really is.
   • 1949 - George R. Stewart Earth Abides, p. 80

     ...a fear had come upon them, and they had a kind of bug-a-boo terror about roving gangsters.

   • 2008, Gerald Stanley Lee, Crowds, ISBN 0554347180, 9780554347189, page 543:

     There is the Goody-good Bug-a-boo, the Consistency Bug-a-boo, and the Bug-a-boo that Thomas Jefferson if he were living now, would never never ride in a carriage.
     Each of these bug-a-boos in the general mistiness and muddleheadedness of the time can be seen going about, saying "Boo! Boo!" to this democracy ...

Synonyms

• (hostile supernatural creature): See goblin

See also

• bogey
• boo-boo
• bugbear