bogeyman
/ˈbəʊɡɪman
/(also bogyman)
noun (plural bogeymen)
1An imaginary evil spirit, used to frighten children.Allyson squeezed her eyes together tightly, trying to shove away the images of imaginary green bogeymen running through her blood, attacking her from within....
- Just as small children project their fear of the dark on to an imaginary bogeyman, the protagonists of the Western economies lay their fears at the door of the Iraqi dictator.
- Unlike vampires, killers in masks and other movieworld bogeymen, zombies have no real agenda of their own.
1.1A person or thing that is widely regarded as an object of fear: nuclear power is the environmentalists' bogeyman...
- They certainly now have nothing to fear from bogeymen either.
- I don't like it when anyone tries to motivate me with bogeymen or a fear of some coming apocalypse.
- But some people really need to conquer their fear of this bogeyman that lurks in their psyches.
- past perfect
- past-pointing
- past president
- past profit
- past progressive
- pastrami
- pastry
- pastry bag
- pastry board
- pastry brush
- pastry cook
- pastry cream
- pastry house
- past tense
- past-time
- pasturable
- pasturage
- pastural
- pasture
- pastureland
- pasture master
- pasture plover
- pasturer
- pasture rose
- pasture thistle