different between hobgoblin vs ogre

English

Etymology

From hob (“elf”) (from Hob, a variant of Rob, short for Robin Goodfellow, an elf in German folklore) + goblin.

Noun

hobgoblin (plural hobgoblins)

1. A small, ugly goblin that makes trouble for humans. [from 1520s]
   • 1837, Albany Fonblanque, England Under Seven Administrations, Volume 1, page 98,

     A M. Berbiguier lately published an elaborate work, in three huge volumes, in which he demonstrated the existence of hobgoblins, described the proper manner of capturing and securing them, and took credit to himself for his zeal for the benefit of mankind, in allowing no day to pass without imprisoning, with his own hands, at least thirty hobgoblins. A writer of biographical notices of contemporary authors, who believed neither in M. Berbiguier's manner of catching hobgoblins nor in the existence of hobgoblins did not scruple to say that M. Berbiguier was mad, and upon this M. Berbiguier brought his action for libel; but unluckily, together with his action, he brought himself into Court, and established in a very few words the truth of the libel.

   • 2005, Scott Harper, Winter's Rite, page 142,

     The eyes blinked out and he heard a faint grunt, followed by the sounds of the Hobgoblin scrambling further back into the tunnel, away from the faint sunlight and the Ur'hunglav's domain.

   • 2007, Introduction: Phonoplay: Recasting Film Music, Daniel Goldmark, Lawrence Kramer, Richard D. Leppert (editors), Beyond the Soundtrack: Representing Music in Cinema, page 1,

     The monster goes unrecognized because he looks like a harmless, pudgy nobody rather than like a hobgoblin. But he reveals his hobgoblin nature through music.

2. (by extension) A source of dread, fear or apprehension; a bugbear.
   • 2004, James Mulvihill, Upstart Talents: Rhetoric and the Career of Reason in English Romantic Disccourse 1790-1820, page 55,

     Under "Fallacies of Danger," then, is listed the subhead of "The Hobgoblin Argument, or, No Innovation, in which the hobgoblin in question is anarchy; which tremendous spectre has for its forerunner the monster innovation." A hot button like this would presumably elicit a visceral response even from Hamilton whose aversion to the hobgoblin of parliamentary reform was apparently his sole unreasoning reflex.

   • 2011, John Mueller, Mark G. Stewart, Terror, Security, and Money: Balancing the Risks, Benefits, and Costs of Homeland Security, page 190,

     However, the public seems to have been able to retain much of its sense of alarm about internal attacks even when the al-Qaeda hobgoblin doesn't actually carry any out.

Synonyms

• (hostile supernatural creature): See goblin

Translations

Portuguese

Noun

hobgoblin m (plural hobgoblins)

1. hobgoblin (mischievous goblin)

English

Etymology

First attested in the 18th century, borrowed from French ogre, from Latin Orcus (“god of the underworld”), from Ancient Greek ????? (Órkos), the personified demon of oaths (????? (hórkos, “oath”)) who inflicts punishment upon perjurers. Doublet of orc.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???.??/
• (US) enPR: ??gûr, IPA^(key): /?o?.??/
• Rhymes: -????(r)

Noun

ogre (plural ogres)

1. (mythology) A type of brutish giant from folk tales that eats human flesh.
2. (figuratively) A brutish man reminiscent of the mythical ogre.

Related terms

• ogreish, ogrish
• ogress
• ogry

Translations

Anagrams

• Geor., Gero, Gore, Rego, ergo, ergo-, gero-, goer, gore, orge, rego, roge

French

Etymology

From Old French ogre, from Latin Orcus (“the underworld; the god Pluto”), with metathesis. According to the Trésor de la langue française informatisé, first attested in the late 12th century meaning 'fierce non-Christian', and ca. 1300 meaning 'human-eating giant' (in fairy tales). Cognate with Old Spanish huerco (“the Devil”), Spanish huerco (“depressed man in the dark”), Italian orco (“ogre, orc”).

See also French lutin (“imp, pixie”), possibly from Old French netun (“marine monster”), derived from Latin Nept?nus, and also Old French gene (“mischievous fairy”) and Romanian zân? (“fairy”), both inherited forms of Latin Di?na. A sermon by Merovingian French bishop St. Eligius (died 659) advises people against belief in Neptune, Diana, Orcus and Minerva.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???/

Noun

ogre m (plural ogres, feminine ogresse)

1. (mythology) ogre

Derived terms

• l'ogre de Corse (“Napoleon Bonaparte”)
• manger comme un ogre
• ogrerie
• ogresque

Descendants

All are borrowed.

Further reading

• “ogre” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• orge

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /?????/

Noun

ogre m (plural ogres, feminine ogra, feminine plural ogras)

1. (Portugal) Alternative form of ogro