Adjacent Words

Bugbear definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BUG'BEAR, v.t. To alarm or frighten with idle phantoms.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an imaginary monster used to frighten children [syn: bogeyman, bugbear, bugaboo, boogeyman, booger]
2: an object of dread or apprehension; "Germany was always a bugbear for France"; "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds"--Ralph Waldo Emerson [syn: bugbear, hobgoblin]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1581 1. an imaginary goblin or specter used to excite fear 2. a. an object or source of dread b. a continuing source of irritation ; problem

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a cause of annoyance or anger; a b{ecirc}te noire. 2 an object of baseless fear. 3 archaic a sort of hobgoblin or any being invoked to intimidate children. Etymology: obs. bug + BEAR(2)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bugbear Bug"bear`, n. Same as Bugaboo. -- a. Causing needless fright. --Locke.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bugbear Bug"bear`, v. t. To alarm with idle phantoms.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bugaboo Bug`a*boo", Bugbear Bug"bear`, n. [See Bug.] Something frightful, as a specter; anything imaginary that causes needless fright; something used to excite needless fear; also, something really dangerous, used to frighten children, etc. ``Bugaboos to fright ye.'' --Lloyd. But, to the world no bugbear is so great As want of figure and a small estate. --Pope. The bugaboo of the liberals is the church pray. --S. B. Griffin. The great bugaboo of the birds is the owl. --J. Burroughs. Syn: Hobgoblin; goblin; specter; ogre; scarecrow.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(bugbears) Something or someone that is your bugbear worries or upsets you. Money is my biggest bugbear. N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Hobgoblin, spectre, ogre, bugaboo, Gorgon hydra, frightful object, raw head and bloody bones, object of baseless terror.

Moby Thesaurus

Dracula, Frankenstein, Mumbo Jumbo, Wolf-man, affliction, anathema, bane, bete noire, bogey, bogeyman, boggart, bogle, bogy, booger, boogerman, boogeyman, bug, bugaboo, bugger, burden, calamity, crushing burden, cry of wolf, curse, death, destruction, detestation, disease, dud, evil, false alarm, fee-faw-fum, frightener, ghost, ghoul, grievance, harm, hate, hobgoblin, holy terror, horror, incubus, infliction, monster, nemesis, nightmare, ogre, ogress, open wound, pest, pestilence, phantom, plague, revenant, running sore, scarebabe, scarecrow, scarer, scourge, specter, succubus, terror, thorn, torment, vampire, vexation, visitation, werewolf, woe