Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. In Jewish folklore, an artificially created human supernaturally endowed with life.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In Jewish use, a shapeless mass; an unfinished vessel or a lifeless bulk; in modern Jewish parlance, a blockhead; a stupid. The Talmud, as well as modern Jewish folk-lore, tells of rabbis who constructed golems and endowed them with life.
Wiktionary
- n. A Creature made of mud and clay. Brought to life from a magical spell on a piece of paper shoved in its mouth.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a mechanism that can move automatically
- n. (Jewish folklore) an artificially created human being that is given life by supernatural means
Etymologies
- From Hebrew גולם \ גֹּלֶם (gólem). (Wiktionary)
- Hebrew gōlem, lump, clod, fool, from gālam, to wrap up; see glm in Semitic roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The impression you get from a golem is more of brute force and slavery which I doubt is what you are going for with your character.”
Superhero Nation: how to write superhero novels and comic books » Open Writing Forum
“Knowing this, what do you think the significance of the golem is in this novel.”
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon: Questions
“And I think a golem is a pretty accurate metaphor.”
“If you played D&D or are Jewish, you know that a golem is a living creature animated out of inanimate material, in this case clay.”
“He tried to quell his human softness, knowing the golem was a literally heartless, unliving thing, but he could not.”
“There is a creature found in traditional Jewish folklore called the golem, an animate humanlike being fashioned completely from inanimate material.”
“Both versions recall the golem running amok and threatening innocent lives, so Rabbi Loew removed the Divine Name, rendering the golem lifeless.”
“I did want to take a moment to point out how the reviewer takes umbrage with my usage of the word "golem" instead of "zombie".”
“A golem is a mindless creature created as a servant from lifeless materials, such as stone, wood, or ...”
“He said there was a reference to the notion of "golem" in Loew's work, but it had another meaning, namely an unwise man.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘golem’.
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Pokemon
Pokemon characters
pikachu, piplup, charzard, froslass, heatran, kabutops, luxray, mothim, probopass, salamence, swalot, tangrowth and 397 more...
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MYTH - spooky creatures
takes the form of a, demon, teeth of iron, unicorn, forest spirit, magical eel, savage humanoid, one-horned animal, creature, headless humanoid, disease-bringing ..., rainbow-feathered... and 607 more...
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Yiddishkeit
There are a few short lists of Yiddish words, but none appropriate to the glory of the language, and none that are open. Thought I'd start one, and would love contributions. I'm tagging as I go, an...
schmuck, nosh, chutzpah, shtick, kvetch, oy vey, oy gevalt, shvitz, shtik, shiksa, putz, mensch and 94 more...
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Public List: Two by Fives
This is an experiment in public lists--something I've been thinking about for some time. The goal is to create a collection of short, powerful, evocative words.
This is an open list. A...icy, howl, hymn, thorn, fire, vile, mist, blunt, scum, dark, shot, gleam and 221 more...
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The Request Line
This is the place to add words you'd like Charles Harrington Elster to pronounce for you!
swingeing, affiant, dahlia, hydrangea, re, clematis, Nabokov, casu marzu, schadenfreudgeon, nefarious, mewl, manteion and 170 more...
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Humanoids
Magical, mechanical, or medical. All man-made.
golem, android, humanoid, Frankenstein, inukshuk, bioroid, replicant, biorobot, automaton, gynoid, droid, cyborg and 12 more...
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Mythological Beastiary
abada, therianthropy, ba, bahamut, balaur, banshee, behemoth, bendigeidfran, bluecap, centaur, bugbear, Ceryneian Hind and 14 more...
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Chabon, Michael
A lexicographical taste of his novels.
omniveillant, exophthalmic, loupe, golem, aetataureate, animadversion, termagancy, cuspidor, bombes, viridian, escutcheon, moderne and 6 more...
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♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
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What's That Pokémon Name?
Words used to create the names of Pokémon, which are usually portmanteaux.
bulb, dinosaur, ivy, venus, char, salamander, squirt, turtle, blast, tortoise, water, caterpillar and 525 more...
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Lillyjames's Words
uncategorized words that I enjoy
replete, unabashed, dauntless, ubiquitous, fanged, blush, flush, murmur, mercurial, dishevelled, decrepit, raven and 146 more...
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A List of Mythical Proportions
All of these things exist, I swear!
unicorn, pegasus, cyclops, yeti, abominable snowman, bigfoot, phoenix, thunderbird, sea serpent, ogre, grue, troll and 138 more...
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mager's Words
enigmatic, pragmatic, pulchritudinous, nincompoop, annihilation, sociality, entailment, acrosome, egalitarian, culture, technocracy, shenanigan and 541 more...
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & ...
This is just a list of interesting words from The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon. (There was a different, magical list about the book, but it seems to have vanished into th...
golem, Prague, Lithuania, Tracy Bacon, homunculus, tyro, Professor Perciva...
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Words I will probably never use
décolleté, pendragon, amerce, viviparous, dragoon, brigand, outlaw, outlawry, lugubrious, boor, contretemps, decrepit and 151 more...
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Fictional beasties
elf, gnome, dwarf, sprite, troll, fairy, nymph, imp, brownie, sasquatch, yeti, wookiee and 574 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for golem.
delcj גול�? Sep 21, 2007