hobbit a member of an imaginary race similar to humans, of small size and with hairy feet, in stories by J. R. R. Tolkien. The name was invented by Tolkien, and said by him to mean ‘hole-dweller’.

In the autumn of 2004, the term was used in reports of the discovery on the Indonesian island of Flores of the skeleton of Homo Floresiensis, a small humanoid previously unknown to science (see also Flores Man).

hob·bit / ˈhäbit/ • n. a member of an imaginary race similar to humans, of small size and with hairy feet, in stories by J. R. R. Tolkien.