hobbit

views updated May 29 2018

hobbit a member of an imaginary race similar to humans, of small size and with hairy feet, in stories by J. R. R. Tolkien. The name was invented by Tolkien, and said by him to mean ‘hole-dweller’.

In the autumn of 2004, the term was used in reports of the discovery on the Indonesian island of Flores of the skeleton of Homo Floresiensis, a small humanoid previously unknown to science (see also Flores Man).

hobbit

views updated Jun 11 2018

hob·bit / ˈhäbit/ • n. a member of an imaginary race similar to humans, of small size and with hairy feet, in stories by J. R. R. Tolkien.