Entry Word: bogey

Function: noun

Meaning:

also bogy or bogie

1 something or someone that causes fear or dread especially without reason <math and math tests have long been bogeys for many students>

Synonyms bête noire, bugaboo, bugbear, hobgoblin, ogre

Related Words apparition, ghost, phantasm, phantom, poltergeist, shade, specter (or spectre), spirit, spook, wraith; banshee, bogeyman, demon, devil, fiend, imp, incubus; fright, horror, monster, monstrosity, terror; bane, curse, plague, scourge, torment; abomination, anathema

2 the soul of a dead person thought of especially as appearing to living people <the child believed bogeys lived in the closet> — see ghost