gremlin

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English

WOTD – 7 June 2022
An American World War II (c. 1942–1943) workplace safety poster featuring gremlins (sense 1.2).

Etymology

Uncertain; the following etymologies have been suggested:

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.

Pronunciation

Noun

gremlin (plural gremlins)

  1. (originally British, aviation, Royal Air Force slang)
    1. (obsolete) A contemptible person.
      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:nonentity
    2. An imaginary creature reputed to be mischievously inclined, for example, to damage or dismantle machinery.
      • 1963, Arthur C Clarke, chapter 8, in Glidepath, New York: Simon and Schuster, pages 72-73:
        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.
      • 2023 November 29, Richard Foster, “Tyne & Wear Metro goes with the flow”, in RAIL, number 997, page 34:
        Crucial time was saved by the fact Nexus didn't require a Transport & Works Act. Nevertheless, other gremlins kept raising their heads.
  2. (by extension)
    1. Any mysterious, unknown source of mischief or trouble, or the problem created thereby.
      Synonyms: bug, glitch, hitch
      We rechecked everything, and we suspect gremlins in the database.
    2. (surfing, skateboarding, slang) A young, inexperienced surfer or skateboarder, regarded as a nuisance.
      Synonyms: grem, gremmie, gremmy, grommet
    3. A person regarded as similar to a fictional gremlin, in particular: mischievous, troublesome, short, or annoying.
      • 2023 May 3, Jenni Lada, “Honkai: Star Rail’s Trailblazer Avatar Is a Gremlin and It’s Great”, in Siliconera‎:
        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.

Derived terms

Translations

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 “gremlin, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2019; “gremlin, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

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