Word of the Week: bugbear (BŬG-bâr)

Definition

(Noun) An object of dread, especially of needless dread; an imaginary terror. In weakened senses: an annoyance, bane, thorn in the flesh.

In Context

“As for that bugbear of a dissolution of the Union, I say, without fear of contradiction, that no practical man has ever believed in it for a day.”

Horace Mann, Slavery: Letters and Speeches, 1851.