bugbear: [16] Early references to bugbear suggest that it was a sort of bug – ‘frightening creature’ – conjured up to frighten naughty children. It is usually assumed that the second element of the word simply represents the animal ‘bear’, and that the frightening creature was represented as being in the shape of a bear. The modern sense ‘source of annoyance’ developed in the late 19th century.
bugbear (n.)
1580s, a sort of demon in the form of a bear that eats small children, also "object of dread" (whether real or not), from obsolete bug "goblin, scarecrow" (see bug (n.)) + bear (n.).
实用例句
1. Inflation is the government's main bugbear.
通货膨胀是政府最头痛的问题。来自《权威词典》
2. Inflation is the Government's main bugbear.
通货膨胀是政府的主要难题.来自《简明英汉词典》
3. Money is my biggest bugbear.
我最愁的是钱。来自辞典例句
4. University reform had long been his bugbear, and now was his bane.
大学改革早就是使他头痛的事情, 如今更成为他的祸害了.来自辞典例句
5. The rise of moralism was a bugbear to Lord Byron , born in 1788.
