bogeyman

Wikipedia

English

Alternative forms

• boogieman
• boogeyman
• boogyman
• bogyman

Etymology

bogy +‎ -man

Noun

bogeyman (plural bogeymen)

1. A menacing, ghost-like monster in children's stories.
2. (by extension) Any make-believe threat, especially one used to intimidate or distract.

   The alleged link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda turned out to be a bogeyman.

Translations

menacing, ghost-like monster in children's stories

Bosnian: babaroga (bs) f. Catalan: home del sac (ca) m. Danish: bussemand (da) c., bøhmand (da) c. Esperanto: infantimigulo (eo) Estonian: koll (et) Finnish: mörkö (fi) French: croque-mitaine (fr) m. German: Butzemann (de) m. Hungarian: krampusz (hu) Japanese: ブギーマン (ja) (bugīman) Latgalian: buba

Latvian: bubulis (lv) Lithuanian: baubas (lt), bubulis (lt) Norwegian: busemann (no) m. Russian: бука (ru) (búka) f., бабай (ru) (babáj) m. Spanish: coco (es) Turkish: gulyabani (tr), hortlak (tr), öcü (tr)

any make-believe threat

Danish: bussemand (da) c., bøhmand (da) c.

Finnish: mörkö (fi)

See also

• bugbear

Anagrams

• moneybag