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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

gob·lin

Audio Help [gob-lin] Pronunciation Key

–noun

a grotesque sprite or elf that is mischievous or malicious toward people.

[Origin: 1300–50; ME gobelin < MF < MHG kobold goblin; see kobold

]

—Synonyms Goblin, gnome, gremlin refer to supernatural beings thought to be malevolent to people. Goblins are demons of any size, usually in human or animal form, that are supposed to assail, afflict, and even torture human beings: “Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn'd, …” (Shak. Hamlet I, iv). Gnomes are small beings, like ugly little old men, who live in the earth, guarding mines, treasures, etc. They are mysteriously malevolent and terrify human beings by causing dreadful mishaps to occur. Gremlins are thought to disrupt machinery and are active in modern folklore.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
goblin

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

gob·lin Audio Help (gŏb'lĭn) Pronunciation Key
n. A grotesque elfin creature of folklore, thought to work mischief or evil.

[Middle English gobelin, from Norman French *gobelin, name of a ghost that supposedly haunted the town of Évreux in the 12th century.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
goblin

c.1327, from O.Fr. gobelin (12c., as Gobelinus, the name of a spirit haunting the region of Evreux), of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Ger. kobold (see cobalt), or from M.L. cabalus, from Gk. kobalos "rogue, knave," kobaloi "wicked spirits invoked by rogues." Another suggestion is that it is a dim. of the proper name Gobel.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

goblin
noun
(folklore) a small grotesque supernatural creature that makes trouble for human beings

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
goblin [ˈgoblin] noun

a mischievous, ugly spirit
Example: a frightening fairy-story about goblins

Arabic:	عِفْريت قَبيح المنظَر
Chinese (Simplified):	小妖精, 顽皮的丑小鬼
Chinese (Traditional):	小妖精
Czech:	skřítek
Danish:	nisse; trold
Estonian:	paharet
Finnish:	peikko
French:	lutin
German:	der Kobold
Greek:	καλικάντζαρος
Hungarian:	gonosz szellem
Icelandic:	(svart)álfur, púki
Indonesian:	setan
Italian:	spiritello maligno*
Japanese:	鬼

Korean:	마귀
Latvian:	rūķis; velniņš
Lithuanian:	aitvaras, kaukas
Norwegian:	nisse, troll
Polish:	chochlik
Portuguese (Brazil):	duende, diabrete
Portuguese (Portugal):	duende
Romanian:	spiriduş
Russian:	домовой
Slovak:	škriatok
Slovenian:	škrat
Spanish:	duende, trasgo
Swedish:	troll, svartalf
Turkish:	gulyabanî

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Goblin

Co"balt\ (k[=o]"b[o^]lt; 277, 74), n. [G. kobalt, prob. fr. kobold, kobel, goblin, MHG. kobolt; perh. akin to G. koben pigsty, hut, AS. cofa room, cofgodas household gods, Icel. kofi hut. If so, the ending -old stands for older -walt, -wald, being the same as -ald in E. herald and the word would mean ruler or governor in a house, house spirit, the metal being so called by miners, because it was poisonous and troublesome. Cf. Kobold, Cove, Goblin.]

1. (Chem.) A tough, lustrous, reddish white metal of the iron group, not easily fusible, and somewhat magnetic. Atomic weight 59.1. Symbol Co.

Note: It occurs in nature in combination with arsenic, sulphur, and oxygen, and is obtained from its ores, smaltite, cobaltite, asbolite, etc. Its oxide colors glass or any flux, as borax, a fine blue, and is used in the manufacture of smalt. It is frequently associated with nickel, and both are characteristic ingredients of meteoric iron.

2. A commercial name of a crude arsenic used as fly poison.

Cobalt bloom. Same as Erythrite.

Cobalt blue, a dark blue pigment consisting of some salt of cobalt, as the phosphate, ignited with alumina; -- called also cobalt ultramarine, and Thenard's blue.

Cobalt crust, earthy arseniate of cobalt.

Cobalt glance. (Min.) See Cobaltite.

Cobalt green, a pigment consisting essentially of the oxides of cobalt and zinc; -- called also Rinman's green.

Cobalt yellow (Chem.), a yellow crystalline powder, regarded as a double nitrite of cobalt and potassium.

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