tommyknocker
English edit
Etymology edit
From Cornwall.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
tommyknocker (plural tommyknockers)
- (folklore) A mythical creature, like a brownie or leprechaun, believed to live in underground tunnels; later associated with dead miners.
- 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 335:
- Then he's down one of these adits, talking to the tommyknockers, more'n likely.