hobbit

noun

hob·bit �?hä-bət

: a member of a fictitious peaceful and genial race of small humanlike creatures that dwell underground

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"What is a hobbit?" wrote J.R.R. Tolkien in the 1937 fantasy novel that introduced Mr. Bilbo Baggins. The author then answered himself: "They are (or were) little people, about half our height, and smaller than the bearded Dwarves.... There is little or no magic about them, except the ordinary everyday sort which helps them to disappear when large stupid folk like you and me come blundering along...." Tolkien tells us that hobbits "are inclined to be fat," and that they "dress in bright colours"; they "have good-natured faces, and deep fruity laughs (especially after dinner)." Tolkien, a professional linguist who taught at Oxford, coined the word hobbit (and many other terms—in fact, a whole new language) for The Hobbit and for his enormously popular series The Lord of the Rings.

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Cribbing lines from The Lord Of The Rings—or entire scenes, such as Gandalf being devoured by a tree just like the hobbits are by Old Man Willow, who is then freed from that tree by Tom, just like in The Fellowship Of The Ring—does not make the story feel more Tolkienesque. —

Erik Kain, Forbes, 13 Oct. 2024 Check out the Eco Villa, a hobbit house made of clay and rubber plants, a unique showcase of renewable energy. —

Jim Dobson, Forbes, 27 Sep. 2024 Scientists have long puzzled over how the hobbit evolved its peculiar proportions. —

Jeanna Bryner, Scientific American, 7 Aug. 2024 Read: Fear of a Black hobbit What makes Claudine worth watching 50 years later is the way Jones’s seductiveness is given room to fester. —

K. Austin Collins, The Atlantic, 10 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for hobbit