Bug-a-boo

Pronunciation

Alternative forms

• bugaboo

Origin

Possibly from a term such as Cornish buccaboo ("devil"). Alternatively, bug + a + boo.

Full definition of bug-a-boo

Noun

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