scarebabe
Definitions
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- noun Something to frighten a babe; a bugbear.
Examples
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Gone is that scarebabe stentor, that bellowing bull of Bashan the village blacksmith, gone is the melodious carpenter, gone the brawny shepherd with the red hair, who roared more lustily than all, until they came to the words, "Shepherds with your flocks abiding," when modesty covered him with confusion, and compelled him to be silent, as though his own health were being drunk.
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Devil ascended from the grisly pit of hell, and like a scarebabe make him take to his legs; I'll play the Devil, I warrant ye.
Note
The word 'scarebabe' is one of a class of words called 'cutthroat compounds' -- compound words that have verb-noun patterns.