Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A grotesque elfin creature of folklore, thought to work mischief or evil.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun An imaginary being supposed to haunt dark or remote places, and to take an occasional capricious interest in human affairs; an elf; a sprite; an earthly spirit; particularly, a surly elf; a malicious fairy; a spirit of the woods; a demon of the earth; a gnome; a ko-bold.
- noun Synonyms Elf, Gnome, etc, See
fairy .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun An evil or mischievous spirit; a playful or malicious elf; a frightful phantom; a gnome.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun fantasy A
mythical ,humanoid creature , often found in contemporaryfantasy .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun (folklore) a small grotesque supernatural creature that makes trouble for human beings
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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So Patty got out of what she called her goblin clothes, but was still giggling at them as she hung them away in the wardrobe.
Patty's Summer Days Carolyn Wells 1902
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Joe: The goblin is pissed off because he had just finished blowdrying his fur when Mr. Knight came along.
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The book title refers to a Japanese martial artist (nicknamed after a mythical Japanese mountain goblin) who holds old grudges against Burke and his sensei, Yamashita.
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A car runs over the bugbear while the fae escapes and the goblin is tied up.
Dragon Wytch-Yasmine Galenorn « The Merry Genre Go Round Reviews 2008
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What do you call a goblin who gets too close to a bonfire?
stupid jokes and a riddle melcircus 2004
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i think the new goblin is awesome he was better than the first and i should know i saw the movie.
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Think then, you hog-goblin, of the greater, larger hog-goblin, which is Set, the Snake God.
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I just wasn't a good enough writer to do justice to the idea of goblin romance.
Q&A jimhines 2010
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In Japan, fossilised sharks 'teeth were said to be the pointed thumbnails of Tengu Man, a mythical mountain goblin.
Archive 2007-02-01 2007
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That said, Jhegaala has a big ol' dragon on the cover, and they don't call my goblin "Dragonslayer" for nothing.
Bookspotcentral, Round 2 jimhines 2009
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In the trade, the small gaps that can occur within the curves of iceberg lettuce leaves – creating air pockets – are sometimes known as “goblin caves”.
How the sandwich consumed Britain | The long read Sam Knight 2021
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Juniper had the term "goblin time" in the back of her mind as something people on the internet joked about, then changed it to "goblin mode" because it seemed just true enough.
The person behind a fake Julia Fox headline about 'goblin mode' says they did her a favor by distracting from her breakup with Ye Lindsay Dodgson 2022
qroqqa commented on the word goblin
An interesting figurative attributive use:
I had only hand-luggage anyway: the train would slow as if for a routine red light, would pause, squeak, exhale, and in that moment I would make a goblin disembarkation, shutting the door with a sly caress.
— Julian Barnes, 1996, 'Gnossienne', in Cross Channel
July 10, 2008
john commented on the word goblin
The McDonnell XF-85. More on Wikipedia.
December 30, 2008
qroqqa commented on the word goblin
As a shadowtailed riverhorse, I think this is cobalt - or is it nickel? Both in fact. Well, well.
August 7, 2009
bilby commented on the word goblin
Yes, right on qroqqa. Missed your answer earlier.
August 24, 2009