GREMLIN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does gremlin mean? 

• GREMLIN (noun)
  The noun GREMLIN has 1 sense:

1. (folklore) fairies that are somewhat mischievous

  Familiarity information: GREMLIN used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GREMLIN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(folklore) fairies that are somewhat mischievous

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

brownie; elf; gremlin; hob; imp; pixie; pixy

Hypernyms ("gremlin" is a kind of...):

faerie; faery; fairy; fay; sprite (a small being, human in form, playful and having magical powers)

Domain category:

folklore (the unwritten lore (stories and proverbs and riddles and songs) of a culture)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "gremlin"):

leprechaun (a mischievous elf in Irish folklore)

sandman (an elf in fairy stories who sprinkles sand in children's eyes to make them sleepy)

 Context examples 

Mercury retrograde won’t help matters for Mercury can sometimes be a little gremlin and delay parts of the project or give you computer problems.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Gremlin relays an SHH signal from the polarizing region to the apical ectodermal ridge.

(Oncogene HST, NCI Thesaurus)