mormo

See also: Mormo

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Μορμώ (Mormṓ, “a hideous she-monster, a bugbear”).

Noun

mormo (plural mormos)

1. (obsolete) A bugbear; false terror.
   • Ralph Cudworth

     Thus the Atheists, who derive the origin of religion from fear, first put an affrighful vizard upon the Deity, and then conclude it to be but a mormo or bugbear, the creature of fear and fancy.

   • Samuel Johnson

     the mormos and bugbears of a frighted rabble

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “mormo”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)