Gnome
WordNet
noun
(1) A short pithy saying expressing a general truth
(2) A legendary creature resembling a tiny old man; lives in the depths of the earth and guards buried treasure
WiktionaryText
Etymology 1
From γνώμη ‘thought, opinion’, from the base of γιγνώσκειν ‘to know’.
Etymology 2
From French gnome, from modern Latin gnomus, used by Paracelsus as a synonym for Pygmaeus ‘pygmy’.
Noun
- A legendary being, supposed to be short, usually bearded men who inhabit the inner parts of the earth, and act as guardians of mines, treasure, etc
- (Rosicrucianism) The elemental being of earth.
- A dwarf; a goblin; a person of small stature or misshapen features, or of strange appearance.
- A small owl (Glaucidium gnoma) of the Western United States.
- A nature spirit in Heathenry.