gremlin Hear it!

gremlin Definition

grem·lin (gremlin)

noun

a small imaginary creature humorously blamed for the faulty operation of airplanes or the disruption of any procedure

Etymology: prob. < Dan *græmling, imp, dim. of obs gram, a devil < ON gramr, angry, akin to OE gremian, to enrage: for IE base see grim

gremlin Synonyms

gremlin

n.

gremlin Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • suffer: Richardson took his rider replacement outing in heat twelve, but disastrously suffered mechanical gremlins on the start line.
  • have: This also only happens whilst you have a living gremlin.
  • get: I often wondered what life would be like if only I get these horrible gremlins out of my head.
  • challenge: Consistently challenging gremlins that give you close match results can result in consistently recieving challenges from those grems.
  • encounter: Real challenges come some time after we have started out on our paths, when we encounter the gremlins within.
  • love: We love gremlins, you love gremlins, everybody should love gremlins!

Converse of subject

  • strike: Wolverhampton's Fredrik Lindgren was struck by mechanical gremlins, leaving him unable to complete the race, whilst Davey Watt took third position.

Adjective modifier

  • mechanical: Adams ended the meeting in tremendous style by easing to victory, whilst Richardson pulled up with mechanical gremlins on the third lap.
  • electrical: A phantom electrical gremlin struck during Saturday's race, knocking the popular Californian out of the race.
  • weak: It also makes it more difficult to make other challenges because it looks as if you are ignoring them to pick on weaker gremlins!
  • technical: Feedback is very much a warm-up gig, hence this is where all the technical gremlins sneak in.
  • little: I looked under the desk to see if the little gremlins inside the router were flashing their torches at me, they were.
  • few: There were a few gremlins, which meant that the device worked intermittently at first.

Preposition: on

  • lap: Adams ended the meeting in tremendous style by easing to victory, whilst Richardson pulled up with mechanical gremlins on the third lap.

Modifies a noun

  • file: These commands request a gremlin file, and the picture in that file is converted and placed in the troff input stream.
  • strike: Lesson number 1: always enter posts via Tinderbox, then you have a backup if the gremlins strike.
  • image: The gremlin image library also features gremlins in work-based situations to reflect the latest advertising campaign.

Possessives

  • campaign: The Get On ' gremlins ' publicity campaign resulted in 60,000 people calling the freephone number.

Preposition: in

  • system: Are opportunities being missed, gremlins in the system left untouched?

Noun used with modifier

  • training: Well now you automatically get challenged by three computer controlled training gremlins, to get you under way quicker.