gremlin
pronunciation
How to pronounce gremlin in British English:
UK [ˈgremlɪn]
How to pronounce gremlin in American English:
US [ˈɡrɛmlɪn]
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- Noun:
- (folklore) fairies that are somewhat mischievous
Word Origin
- gremlin
- gremlin: [20] Gremlin originated as Royal Air Force slang, as the name of a mischievous imp that caused malfunctions and crashes. It is first recorded in 1941, but it is said to go back to the early 1920s. It is generally assumed that its latter part comes from goblin, but speculation has been rife and diverse as to the source of its first syllable: from the scholarly (Old English gremman ‘make angry’) to the inventively popular (a blend of goblin with Fremlin, the name of a well-known firm of brewers).
- gremlin (n.)
- "small imaginary creature blamed for mechanical failures," oral use in R.A.F. aviators' slang from Malta, the Middle East and India is said to date to 1923. First printed use perhaps in poem in journal "Aeroplane" April 10, 1929; certainly in use by 1941, and popularized in World War II and picked up by Americans (for example "New York Times" Magazine April 11, 1943). Of unknown origin. OED says "probably formed by analogy with GOBLIN." Speculations in Barnhart are a possible dialectal survival of Old English gremman "to anger, vex" + the -lin of goblin; or Irish gruaimin "bad-tempered little fellow." Surfer slang for "young surfer, beach trouble-maker" is from 1961 (short form gremmie by 1962).
Example
- 1. Get back here , you freaking gremlin !
- 2. One of my favorite females is gremlin who has twins .
- 3. And I was living in a gremlin with a guy named cindy who talked to his hand .
- 4. And the autopsy gremlin ?
- 5. The gremlin not forgotten at home , but in new york lost !