Dictionary

scarebug en · NOUN

Etymology

From scare + bug.

Meanings

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

Forms