0 an imaginary, very small, old man with a beard and a pointed hat, in traditional children's stories --
1 (in children’s stories) an imaginary, very small old man who lives underground and guards gold and other valuable objects --
We should not extend the debate to cultural arguments about plastic gnomes and so on.
Whatever arguments are advanced in the debate, surely we need not go into whether garden gnomes or seeds come within the term.
He would wrap up the gnome, take the customer's details, sort out the money and label up the package.
But, briefed carefully by gnomes from the civil servants' office, he is told just how far he can or cannot go.
Certainly, the experts, the dealers in foreign exchange, "the gnomes", the dealers in commodities, are not going to be put off and confused.
It is governed by political gnomes busy jealously guarding their small treasure.
I am thinking of soft cases, such as a drunk old man staggering across my open-plan garden and knocking over a gnome.
This nice touch that some gnome in some department thought up, "a reproduction silver inkstand", was very interesting.