bugbear > define

noun

• An imaginary monster used to frighten children.
  • synonyms: bogeyman, bugaboo, boogeyman, booger
• An object of dread or apprehension."Germany was always a bugbear for France"; "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds-Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • synonyms: hobgoblin

• (n.) Same as Bugaboo.
• (n.) Something frightful, as a specter; anything imaginary that causes needless fright; something used to excite needless fear; also, something really dangerous, used to frighten children, etc.
• (a.) Causing needless fright.
• (v.t.) To alarm with idle phantoms.