From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbogeymanbo‧gey‧man /ˈbəʊɡimæn $ ˈboʊ-/ noun (plural bogeymen /-men/) [countable] 1 RFan evil spirit, especially in children’s imagination or stories2 someone who people think is evil or unpleasant Manson was and remains America’s number one bogeyman.
Examples from the Corpus
bogeyman• But it helps to expiate our imagined sins if we have a bogeyman to hand, a Drug Baron.• Strange, he hadn't seemed the type to be scared of bogeymen.• Also known as a boogeyman or bogeyman, one can only have an effect if its victim pays heed to it.• The other Chris Woodhead revelled in his media role as the teachers' bogeyman.• The only way to banish the bogeyman was to look him in the eye without flinching.• He's the bogeyman of the North Shore.• It was in 1924 and the Labour prime minister, Ramsay MacDonald, was the bogeyman. 