gremlin
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɡɹɛmlɪn/
ipa: /ˈɡɹɛmlən/
rhymes: -ɛmlɪn
Forms: form: gremlins
Etymology: Uncertain; the following etymologies have been suggested:
* A variant of goblin.
* From Irish gruaimín (“gloomy little person”); or from Dutch gremmelen (“to soil, stain; to spoil”), or griemelen, grimmelen (“(obsolete) to abound, teem; to swarm”), but according to the Oxford English Dictionary there is little evidence for such derivations.
The word was popularized, especially in the United States, by the children’s novel The Gremlins (1943) by the British author Roald Dahl (1916–1990), in which gremlins sabotage Royal Air Force aircraft in revenge for the destruction of their forest home to make way for an aircraft factory; the creatures later join forces with the British to fight the Nazis.
Senses: topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
qualifier: Royal Air Force slang
synonyms: word: absolute zero
word: also-ran
word: chopped liver
word: cipher
word: crumb
word: Joe Nobody
word: little guy
word: minnow
word: nebbish
word: nobody
word: no one
word: nothing
word: nothingburger
word: nonentity
word: picayune
word: pip-squeak
word: pleb
word: peon
word: prole
word: puny
word: quidam
word: rinky-dink
word: shrimp
word: wankstain
word: zero
word: zilch
glosses: A contemptible person.
examples: text: Like Abominable Snowmen, gremlins have never actually been seen; but nobody who works with electronic gear doubts the existence of these mischievous and elusive entities. There are too many malfunctions and failures that can have no other explanation.
ref: 1963, Arthur C Clarke, chapter 8, in Glidepath, New York: Simon and Schuster, pages 72-73:
text: Crucial time was saved by the fact Nexus didn't require a Transport & Works Act. Nevertheless, other gremlins kept raising their heads.
ref: 2023 November 29, Richard Foster, “Tyne & Wear Metro goes with the flow”, in RAIL, number 997, page 34:
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
qualifier: Royal Air Force slang
glosses: An imaginary creature reputed to be mischievously inclined, for example, to damage or dismantle machinery.
examples: text: We rechecked everything, and we suspect gremlins in the database.
synonyms: bug
glitch
hitch
glosses: Any mysterious, unknown source of mischief or trouble, or the problem created thereby.
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
skateboarding
sports
surfing
synonyms: grem
gremmie
gremmy
grommet
glosses: A young, inexperienced surfer or skateboarder, regarded as a nuisance.
examples: text: Rosa, the main character in Tears of Themis, is also very smart, justice-driven, and willing to help. Meanwhile, the Honkai: Star Rail Trailblazer […] can often be a sarcastic, pessimistic, lazy, self-serving, dumpster-diving gremlin.
ref: 2023 May 3, Jenni Lada, “Honkai: Star Rail’s Trailblazer Avatar Is a Gremlin and It’s Great”, in Siliconera:
glosses: A person regarded as similar to a fictional gremlin, in particular: mischievous, troublesome, short, or annoying.
Derived terms: gremmie
gremmy
gremlinesque
gremlinology
gremlinologist
gremlinous
Related terms: ghost in the machine
ghost