bogeyman
25
7.4
- noun
- /ˈboʊɡiˌmæn/
- Baby Talk
:
hombre del saco
- Furthermore, the Phantom is the classic bogeyman of the nightmares of children of both sexes.
Oh, God is bigger than the Boogeyman and he's watching now for you and me.
- Oh, God is bigger than the Boogeyman and he's watching now for you and me.
Examples
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We do believe, however, that the bogeyman of parental interference in functional education is grossly over-exaggerated.
Academic text (1995) -
Now, I will hold your hand when it's dark and you're afraid of the bogeyman.
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- Watch out for the bogeyman.
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Mother will protect you from the bogeyman.
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Is he like the bogeyman?
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Well, for a start, that's where the bogeyman lives.
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He's worse than the bogeyman himself.
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When Barb was a little girl, she thought the bogeyman lived in there.
Fiction book (1995) -
Aren’t you afraid the bogeyman will get you?
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Parents often use the bogeyman to scare their children into behaving at bedtime.
Synonyms
∞
2.2
A large frightening imaginary creature often made of human and animal parts
34
8.1
An imaginary monster adults mention to scare children into behaving
15
9.9
An imaginary creature parents mention to frighten children
6
9.6
A thing that causes fear or worry, often without real danger
4
9.9
A scary monster in Latin American stories that parents say to frighten children
3
9.9
A scary creature from old stories that scares people
1
9.9
An imaginary monster used to frighten children
An imagined scary creature told about to frighten children
How Scary
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
The word bogeyman comes from an old word bogey that meant a frightening spirit or goblin, plus man for 'person'. So a bogeyman is literally a 'scary person', an imaginary creature adults used to warn children about.