Gnoma (noma)

[NL. (Fabric i us, 1801); so called in allusion to its dwelling in the earth; gnomel (nom; L. pron. nō'mē), n. [ IMG:content-2449.png:[blocks in formation] gnome guardian: see gnomel, gnomon.] 1. One of a race of imaginary beings, first conceived as spirits of the earth, inhabiting its interior and that of everything earthly, animal, vegetable, or mineral. The gnomes ultimately came to be regard. ed as the special guardians of mines and miners, malicious in all other relations, and extremely ugly and mi hapen; while the females of the race, called gnomides, not more than a foot high, were endowed with supreme beauty and goodne , and, being the special guardians of diamonds, were chiefly known in the countries that produced them. Swift on his sooty pinions flits the gnome , And in a vapour reach'd the dismal dome. Pope, R. of the L., iv. 17. Pope has made admirable use in this fine poem ["Rape of the Lock"] of the fabled race of gnomes . War burton. Hence-2. A grotesque dwarf; goblin-like mi hapen figure. person of small stature and mi hapen figure. -3. A name of sundry humming-birds: as, the giant gnome ( Patagona gigas ).=Syn. 1. Goblin, etc. See fairy.