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bugaboo

[ buhg-uh-boo ]

/ ˈbʌg əˌbu /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR bugaboo ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural bug·a·boos.

something that causes fear or worry; bugbear; bogy.

Origin of bugaboo

1730–40; earlier buggybow. See bogy¹, boo¹

Words nearby bugaboo

bug light, bug off, bug out, bug-eyed, bug-juice, bugaboo, bugaku, bugaloo, buganda, bugatti, bugayev

Example sentences from the Web for bugaboo

Gwyneth Paltrow wheeled her daughter Apple around London in a Bugaboo pram.

How Different Is Raising the Royal Baby From a Typical American Child? |Kevin Fallon, Lizzie Crocker |July 23, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
Not exactly a Bugaboo, sure, but it does have a nifty one-hand folding feature and weighs only 11 pounds.

How Different Is Raising the Royal Baby From a Typical American Child? |Kevin Fallon, Lizzie Crocker |July 23, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
Can we return the souped-up Bugaboo strollers and turn off the shiny iPhone rattles in favor of simpler tools for raising a child?

Parent Like a Caveman |Danielle Friedman |October 11, 2010 |DAILY BEAST
Over-optimistic forecasts, coupled with underperformance, have long been a GM bugaboo.

Behind GM's Shock Shakeup |Paul Ingrassia |December 1, 2009 |DAILY BEAST

I should be a bugaboo to Owen—I should be fatally in the way.

The Spoils of Poynton |Henry James
He either did not see me, or else decided that I was not a bugaboo.

Our Bird Comrades |Leander S. (Leander Sylvester) Keyser
I should have gone 'clean daft' if the bugaboo had been permitted to show me the sights they presently promised.

Continental Monthly, Volume 5, Issue 4 |Various
To the man with too much ton mile on the brain the running of a train, the very object of the road's existence, becomes a bugaboo.

Letters from an Old Railway Official |Charles DeLano Hine
And the laugh that followed helped a little to scare away the bugaboo his words had raised in my mind.

Life on the Stage |Clara Morris

British Dictionary definitions for bugaboo

bugaboo

/ (ˈbʌɡəˌbuː) /

noun plural -boos

an imaginary source of fear; bugbear; bogey

Word Origin for bugaboo

C18: probably of Celtic origin; compare Cornish buccaboo the devil