Obs. [f. prec. sb.] trans. To frighten with imaginary or needless fears.
1650. R. Stapylton, Strada’s Low-C. Warres, 1. They carryed the Warre up and downe, only to bug-beare Townes and Villages.
1687. Hist. Sir J. Hawkwood, ix. 17.
1705. S. Whately, in W. S. Perry, Hist. Coll. Amer. Col. Ch., I. 167. To be bugbear’d out of our senses by big words.
