goblin

[gob-lin]

noun

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

Origin of goblin

1300–50; Middle English gobelin < Middle French < Middle High German kobold goblin; see kobold

Synonyms for goblin

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 Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for goblins

gremlin, gnome, demon, brownie, bogeyman, pixie, imp, fiend, spirit, sprite, kobold, nixie

Examples from the Web for goblins

Contemporary Examples of goblins

Yet most people outside that little circle still believe in witches and ghosts and goblins, and are very pagan-minded.
Inside 'Sons of Anarchy's' Final Season: Creator Kurt Sutter on the Most Brutal Season Yet
Annaliza Savage
September 10, 2014
It was weird, but not as weird as the goblins, ghosts, and other stock fiction figures mixing with the masses on the street.
How Military Veterans Led Sandy Volunteer Efforts
Peter Meijer
October 28, 2013
You can substitute fairies and goblins, with the stars, the galaxies, and looking down a microscope.
Rediscovering Richard Dawkins: An Interview
J.P. O’Malley
September 23, 2013
He even aids the group by distracting a herd of goblins on their tail (a scene dreamed up by Jackson).
‘The Hobbit’: 19 Changes from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Novel to Peter Jackson’s Movie
Anna Klassen
December 14, 2012
Candy, costumes, ghosts, and goblins: Halloween makes for a great movie moment.
‘Donnie Darko,’ ‘Mean Girls’ & More Halloween Movie Scenes (VIDEO)
Abby Haglage
October 31, 2012

Historical Examples of goblins

To me they sounded suspiciously like the goblins in my goblin book.
The Harbor
Ernest Poole
He invoked the spirit of his mother; he brought together an assembly of elves and goblins.
Imogen
William Godwin
I was never the victim of fear of goblins and ghosts because I was never taught them.
Adventures in the Arts
Marsden Hartley
But when the Goblins arrived they looked at the table with dismay.
Sandman's Goodnight Stories
Abbie Phillips Walker
The Fairies and the Goblins hurried to the kitchen in the hollow, but it was empty.
Sandman's Goodnight Stories
Abbie Phillips Walker

British Dictionary definitions for goblins

goblin

noun

(in folklore) a small grotesque supernatural creature, regarded as malevolent towards human beings

Word Origin for goblin

C14: from Old French, from Middle High German kobolt; compare cobalt

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for goblins

goblin

early 14c., "a devil, incubus, fairy," from Old French gobelin (12c., as Medieval Latin Gobelinus, the name of a spirit haunting the region of Evreux, in chronicle of Ordericus Vitalis), of uncertain origin, perhaps related to German kobold (see cobalt), or from Medieval Latin cabalus, from Greek kobalos "rogue, knave," kobaloi "wicked spirits invoked by rogues," of unknown origin. Another suggestion is that it is a diminutive of the proper name Gobel.

Though French gobelin was not recorded until almost 250 years after appearance of the English term, it is mentioned in the Medieval Latin text of the 1100's, and few people who believed in folk magic used Medieval Latin. [Barnhart]