Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A Welsh unit of weight, equal to four Welsh pecks, or 168 pounds
  • noun archaic An old unit of volume (2½ bushels, the volume of 168 pounds of wheat).
  • noun A fictional race of small humanoids with shaggy hair and hairy feet.
  • noun by extension A member of any race of small humans or hominids.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an imaginary being similar to a person but smaller and with hairy feet; invented by J.R.R. Tolkien

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Probably from hoppet, hobbet, (a basket).

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Examples

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  • 2. Informal name sometimes given to Homo Floresiensis (since 2004).

    September 9, 2009

  • Found 'hobbit' for weight on page 131

    http://books.google.ca/books?id=ADAwAAAAIAAJ

    English reports in law and equity: C.C. Little and J. Brown, 1855

    "A sale of wheat took place at a price per hobbit It appeared that the hobbit was a term used in Wales to express a quantity consisting of four pecks each peck weighing forty two pounds and that the wheat in question had been delivered to the purchaser in sacks containing six pecks or 252 pounds and the custom was so to deliver it the sacks on such occasions being weighed and the quantity in each sack increased or reduced to 252 pounds "

    February 26, 2013