Definition of "bogeyman" []

• A terrifying specter; a hobgoblin. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "This business of Iran being characterized as the bogeyman is all a smokescreen people!"
• "The term "bogeyman" seems to have come from the Welsh "bwg" spirit and the word "bug" was applied to insects because of the belief that insects were souls in search of rebirth."
• "Idly checking the state of debate among Eurosceptics, I was wryly amused to discover that the latest bogeyman is the European Gendarmerie Force, or EGF."