1. a legendary dwarfish creature supposed to guard the earth's treasures underground.
▪ a small garden ornament in the form of a bearded man with a pointed hat.
▪ a small ugly person: "a grizzled gnome of a man"
▪ a person regarded as having secret or sinister influence in financial matters:"the gnomes of Zurich"
Word Originmid 17th century: from French, from modern Latin gnomus, a word used by Paracelsus as a synonym of Pygmaeus, denoting a mythical race of very small people said to inhabit parts of Ethiopia and India (compare with pygmy).
