Hobgoblin is one of those great Halloween words that conjures up visions of mischievous creatures. Before researching this article, I could not say I knew much more than that. According to Webster’s Dictionary, the word combines “hob” and “goblin,” with hob meaning elf or sprite and goblin meaning rogue.
The word hobgoblin has been used in prose and poetry throughout the years and originated in the 1500s. I would put elves, gnomes, fairies, pixies, and trolls in this category. All of these are fictional unless you are Irish and believe in leprechauns, which we all know exist and hoard the gold at the end of the rainbow.
“In the Harry Potter books, Harry encounters several forms of elves, many of which were probably hobgoblins full of mischief.”
“When the eggs flew off the table and cracked, we knew there was a hobgoblin loose in the kitchen.”
“My daughter dressed like an elf for Halloween, but we all knew she was a hobgoblin under the costume.”
Exsanguination is not pleasant unless you are a vampire or act like one for Halloween. Exsanguination is a noun that usually defines the process of draining blood from an animal, resulting in death. This is not a word used frequently, but it is handy to know and the draining of blood is the most common usage.
But exsanguination can refer to other situations where something is drained quickly or to exhaustion.
“The attack by the villains was so fast that the inflicted wounds resulted in a speedy exsanguination of the knights defending the castle.”
“The hackers rapidly exsanguinated George’s bank account, and his financial position collapsed as a result.”
“Jill easily disarmed the soldiers with her friendly demeanor, and before they knew she was a vampiress, they had been exsanguinated.”
Using the two words in a sentence is difficult without watering down the meaning of exsanguination, but it can be done.
“The hobgoblin joked that his favorite hobby was exsanguination until he met a vampire mosquito who disagreed.”
“The hobgoblin’s Halloween costume was so realistic, he had to carry a small sign that read: ‘No exsanguination involved – just good makeup!’”
“Pete, who likes to play a hobgoblin, started a podcast on exsanguination but quickly realized his only listeners were vampires and bats.”
Image generated using DALL-E-3 Open AI and Photoshop 2024
