‖ ˈbucca dial.
[Corn. bucca ‘hobgoblin, bugbear, scarecrow’, app. cogn. with mod.Welsh bwgan spectre.]
a. A bogle; applied inter alia to the subterranean spirits supposed to frequent tin-mines (see Philos. Trans. vol. I.). b. A stupid person. The compounds bucca-boo (bugaboo), bucca-gwidden, are also in dial. use (see quots.)
| 1865 R. Hunt Pop. Romances W. Eng. Ser. i. 67 The Buccas or knockers—These are the sprites of the mines, and correspond to the Kobals of the German mines. 1880 West Cornw. Gloss. 7 Newlyn buccas, strong as oak, Knocking 'em down at every poke. Bucca-boo, a ghost; a bug-bear; a black bucca. Bucca-gwidden, a precocious child; a simple innocent; an insane person. |