gremlin

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“
In indonesia the brits did the same thing, use the Japanese soldiers to maintain law and order in Indonesia, of course it sort of failed with the battle of surabaya wu lah, it was called the gremlin force. can check on the net. i think the rearmed japanese killed at least a few hundred vietminhs。

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Definitions (4)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun An imaginary gnomelike creature to whom mechanical problems, especially in aircraft, are attributed.
  2. noun A maker of mischief.
  3. Word History
    Elves, goblins, and trolls seem to be timeless creations of the distant past, but gremlins were born in the 20th century. In fact, gremlin is first recorded only in the 1920s, as a Royal Air Force term for a low-ranking officer or enlisted man saddled with oppressive assignments. Said to have been invented by members of the Royal Naval Air Service in World War I, gremlin is used in works written in the 1940s for "an imaginary gnomelike creature who causes difficulties in aircraft.” The word seems likely to have been influenced by goblin, but accounts of its origin are various and none are certain. One source calls in Fremlin beer bottles to explain the word; another, the Irish Gaelic word gruaimín, "ill-humored little fellow.” Whatever the word's origin, it is certain that gremlins have taken on a life of their own.

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Examples (37)

  • And you aren't a gremlin, I hope not Park glanced at the clock. —  128 - The Goblins
  • Irene said, irritated-and wondered whether that would be recorded as an obscenity, as the gremlin generated more mischief. —  Dragon on a Pedestal
  • She smiled like a gremlin and nodded so vigorously her tits bounced. —  InterzoneScienceFictionandFantasyMagazine#215
  • Pre-trial anxiety's a nasty little gremlin, though. —  Thumbscrews
  • And then Mills sings "There's something out there on the wing" and he could be speaking figuratively or he could be speaking of that Twilight Zone episode where Bill Shatner, recovering from a nervous breakdown, is the only one who can see the gremlin on the wing of the plane. —  Tourdates Unsigned Chart
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This word has been looked up 95 times.

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Etymologies (1)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Perhaps blend of Irish gruaimín, bad-tempered little fellow (from Middle Irish gruaim, gloom, surliness) and goblin.
 

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