scarebug

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

scare +‎ bug

Noun

scarebug (plural scarebugs)

  1. (obsolete) A bugbear; an imaginary monster to frighten children.
    • 1862, Samuel Ward, Sermons and treatises, page 60:
      Is hell but a name and word, a scarebug for to keep fools in awe?
    • 1912, Israel Zangwill, The Next Religion: A Play in Three Acts, page 50:
      You can't fright me with your scarebugs. I'm going to be cremated. That's real ashes to ashes.
    • 1921, Edmund Peyton Lowe, American Principles, page 88:
      The argument is a mere scarebug of the opposition.
    • 1961, T. B. Cunha, Goa's Freedom Struggle: Selected Writings of T. B. Cunha, page 87:
      As for painting, we have the portraits of Viceroys exhibited in the Government Council Hall, monstrous scarebugs made in series which may serve to terrorise our councillors.
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