bug-a-boo
/ˈbʌɡəbuː/
bug-a-boo noun: a mythical, nocturnal creature; a hobgoblin.
Noun
bug-a-boo (plural bug-a-boos)
- A mythical, nocturnal creature; a hobgoblin.
- The German ubu, as well as the French bibou, is also used for bug-a-boo, hobgoblin, or any other fantastical, terrific nocturnal object.1776, William Kenrick, London review of English and foreign literature, page 316
- Synonyms:
- goblin
- Any imagined fear or threat, or a fear presumed larger than it really is.
- ...a fear had come upon them, and they had a kind of bug-a-boo terror about roving gangsters.1949, – George R. Stewart, Earth Abides, page 80
- “Oh! Of all the intolerable bugaboos. Gentlemen, this is a family discu-- Oh!”2006 August 6, Jackson Publick, “Twenty Years to Midnight” (17:35 from the start), in The Venture Bros., season 2, episode 5, spoken by Professor Impossible (Stephen Colbert)
Synonyms of bug-a-boo
Forms of bug-a-boo
| plural | bug-a-boos |
|---|---|
| alternative form | bugaboo |
Origin of bug-a-boo
An earlier form was seen in buggybow, probably an alteration of bugbear (see bug), but connected by Chapman ("Dictionary of American Slang") with Bugibu, demon in the Old French poem Aliscans from 1141, which is perhaps of Celtic origin as a pagan god (compare Cornish buccaboo (“devil”), from bucca (“bogle, goblin”)). Alternatively, bug + a + boo. For a similar semantic development from a heathen god to demon to monster, compare etymology of French lutin.
Questions about bug-a-boo
- What does bug-a-boo mean?
- Bug-a-boo means a mythical, nocturnal creature; a hobgoblin.
- What part of speech is bug-a-boo?
- Bug-a-boo is a noun.
- How do you pronounce bug-a-boo?
- Bug-a-boo is pronounced /ˈbʌɡəbuː/.
- What is the plural of bug-a-boo?
- The plural of bug-a-boo is bug-a-boos.
Words near bug-a-boo in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bug-a-boo (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-bugaboo.ogg.
Cite this entry: “bug-a-boo.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bug-a-boo. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.