leprechaun (lĕp`rəkŏn), Irish fairy represented as a tiny old man. Leprechauns are mischievous and elusive creatures, said to possess buried crocks of gold, the location of which they will reveal if forced.
In Irish folklore, a fairy in the form of a tiny old man wearing a cocked hat and leather apron. Solitary by nature, leprechauns lived in remote places and worked as shoemakers. Each was believed to possess a hidden crock of gold. If captured and threatened, a leprechaun might reveal the gold's hiding place, provided his captor never took his eyes off him. Usually the captor was tricked into glancing away, and the leprechaun vanished. The word derives from the Old Irish luchorpan (“little body”).
leprechaun
leprechaun
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Leprechaun, illustration by George Denham, from The Irish Fairy Book by …
(credit: Courtesy of the Folklore Society Library, University College, London; photograph, R.B. Fleming)
leprechaun
(in Irish folklore) a mischievous elf, often believed to have a treasure hoard
leprechaun
small supernatural creature associated with shoemaking and hidden treasure. [Irish Folklore: Benét, 579]
See : Fairy
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