† ˈbull-bear Obs.
[App. f. bull n.1 + bear n.1; but, to account for the sense, it has been conjectured that the first element may be boll n.3, or bogle. Cf. bugbear (of which also it is not impossible that this is a corruption); also Du. bulle-man ‘larva, spectrum’, bulle-back ‘lemures’ (Kilian 1642). See next.]
A spectre, bogy; a scare-crow; a bugbear, or object of groundless terror.
| 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iii. v. (1634) 319 They saw themselves to be openly and uncolourably scorned of the Pope and his Bulbeares. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 423/2 Such as be alyve now should dreadd any Bull⁓beares of Purgatory. 1592 G. Harvey Four Lett. (1815) 21 That Fleeting (imprisonment in the Fleet) also proved like the other a silly bullbeare. |