bugbear

See also: bug-bear

Contents

EnglishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

• bug-bear

EtymologyEdit

From bug +‎ bear.

PronunciationEdit

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbʌɡ.bɛə(ɹ)/, /bɛː(ɹ)/, enPR: ˈbŭg-bâr
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbʌɡ.bɛɚ/, enPR: ˈbŭg-bär

NounEdit

bugbear (plural bugbears)

1. An ongoing problem; a recurring obstacle or adversity.
2. A source of dread; resentment; or irritation.
   • Alexander Pope, Epistle I of the First Book of Horace; to Lord Bolingbroke

     But, to the world no bugbear is so great

     As want of figure and a small estate.

   • 1841, Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop, chapter 3

     What have I done to be made a bugbear of, and to be shunned and dreaded as if I brought the plague?

3. An imaginary creature meant to inspire fear in children.
   • 1900, Carl Schurz, For Truth, Justice and Liberty

     The partisans of the Administration object to the word “imperialism,” calling it a mere bugbear having no real existence.

SynonymsEdit

• (hostile supernatural creature): See goblin

TranslationsEdit

ongoing problem

• Dutch: bête noire

• Finnish: kiusa, riesa (fi)

source of dread, resentment or irritation

• Dutch: boeman (nl), schrikbeeld

• Finnish: kiusa, riesa (fi)

imaginary creature

• Dutch: spookbeeld (nl)
• Finnish: menninkäinen, mörkö (fi)

• Greek: μπαμπούλας (el) m (bampoúlas)
• Hungarian: mumus (hu)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} плашило (bg) (plašilo)

See alsoEdit

• bête noire
• bogeyman
• bugaboo

VerbEdit

bugbear (third-person singular simple present bugbears, present participle bugbearing, simple past and past participle bugbeared)

1. (transitive) To alarm with idle phantoms.

AnagramsEdit

• Burbage, rubbage