boogieman

boogeyman

1. An imaginary, evil man who has supernatural abilities. I had a hard time getting the kids to go to bed—they're convinced that the boogeyman is going to come into their room at night.
2. By extension, anything that is deemed frightening or threatening, especially when such an opinion is unwarranted. The idea that minorities might move into certain neighborhoods is a constant societal boogeyman.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

boogieman

(ˈbugimæn and ˈbʊgimæn)
n. an imaginary man who is said to frighten people; a false threat of any kind. Don’t turn me into a boogieman. Spank the child yourself.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • boogeyman
  • horror show
  • jack of all trades is a master of none
  • a Jack of all trades is a master of none
  • the witching hour
  • witching
  • witching hour
  • tilt at windmills
  • tilt at windmills, to
  • guardian angel
References in periodicals archive
The common heritage of humankind principle--based on non-appropriation by any single state, benefits sharing among all states, and international management of the common heritage resource--is the ultimate boogieman of sovereign entities, especially when it is directed at resource pools that, historically, have been under the sovereignty of individual states, in effect threatening to strip preexisting rights from sovereign states.
The protesters' efforts and convictions are not entirely at fault--they cannot be held responsible for the tepid reaction by an apathetic American public which believe the Al-Qaeda boogieman is worth the flag-draped body bags of our sons and daughters.
If everyone reading this column would shoot 500 rounds through their gun in the next year it would truly be a dangerous place for the boogieman.
Your standard, real dark, stormy, Adriatic night was playing boogieman outside our canopy, but we were undaunted.
When the boogieman sneaks inside your family and takes a brother, mother, sister, father, wife and/or husband, the impact is deep and often far-flung.
King was the "Boogieman" or, to be more precise, the town-crier of the Boogieman of 2004.
Freddy Vs Jason (15) Slasher icons carve each other up for Best Boogieman title.
Fans of each respective boogieman will no doubt thrill to all of these visual signposts, but once the nostalgia subsides, Freddy Vs Jason boasts only a few genuine thrills and spills.
To celebrate the company's 64th anniversary, Breitkreutz threw a Boogieman Bash inside the store during Halloween.
HALLOWEEN (18) The boogieman does exist and for decades, he has taken the towering for m of masked maniac Michael Myers in a series of blood-drenched thrillers, which began with John Carpenter's seminal 1978 slasher Halloween.
We wanted to remove the internet boogieman, the scary part of purchasing an item via the internet from a company perhaps across the country.
BOOGIEMAN The former first minister plays a recorder while a pathetic-looking puppet Miliband, apparently completely in his power, responds to every note THE Tories are using a bizarre cartoon to step up their drive to demonise Salmond.
Bin Laden may be dead and his image is being kept alive to keep our boogieman available for President Bush to point to.
The big boogieman in black-powder cartridge loading is the hard fouling left by the powder.
Skitty, Nuborn and Boogieman ARENA TWO - HOMEGROWN Artificial Intelligence Mistress Mo Pace Garry K Benny and the Goat Dangerous D