scare-bug

plural scare-bugs

1. alternativeAlternative form of scarebug.

   Thus this godly martyr derided long since this Popish scare-bug of purgatory fire, making it inferior to the Bishop's prison.

   1851, Charles Elliott, John Hannah, Delineation of Roman Catholicism, page 353

   2 more examples

   Bitten by the Bolsheviki scare-bug, the country at large seems to have gone mad, but in proposing to convert the Bolsheviki by teaching them English, whether they will or no, Senator Kenyon has plumbed a depth of fatuity almost incredible.

   1920, America - Volume 22, page 351

   There were countless stories over the years about how she would scream at the least little scare-bugs, someone saying boo, fake puke or someone just walking up behind her—and scream.

   2010, Kerby Mae Robinson, Give 'n Go, page 56