GNOME

[noun] [C] - (in children's stories) an imaginary very small old man with a beard and a pointed hat, who lives underground and guards gold and other valuable objects or an earth spiritA gnome is also a model of a gnome used as a garden decoration.I don't think garden gnomes are in very good taste.(US) A gnome is also a person who works by using their mind, but does not talk to, and is not known by, the public; a boffin.The gnomes in the back room are putting the finishing touches on the new software.Powerful bankers from Switzerland are sometimes called the gnomes of Zurich because they control a lot of money, much of it belonging to foreign governments.