Lilliputian

 

A new word, I’ve never heard of this one though I have watched Gulliver’s Travels, I don’t recall picking up this word.

 

Lillipution

 

Given up by the pro linguist:

http://fishofgold.net/2010/04/04/carjack-defense-system/

 

Definition from Merriam-Webster:

adjective \ˌli-lə-ˈpyü-shən\

1.  of, relating to, or characteristic of the Lilliputians or the island of Lilliput

2.  often not capitalized

a :  small, miniature <a Lilliputian camera>

b :  petty

First Known Use of LILLIPUTIAN

1726  “diminutive, tiny,” literally “pertaining to Lilliput,” the fabulous island whose inhabitants were six inches high, a name coined by Jonathan Swift in “Gulliver’s Travels” (1726). Swift left no explanation of the origin of the word.

Origin:

Early 18th century: from the imaginary country of Lilliput in Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, inhabited by people 6 inches (15 cm) high, + -ian.

From Cliffsnotes: 

“The Lilliputians are men six inches in height but possessing all the pretension and self-importance of full-sized men. They are mean and nasty, vicious, morally corrupt, hypocritical and deceitful, jealous and envious, filled with greed and ingratitude — they are, in fact, completely human.”

From MedTerms.com: 

Lilliputian hallucination: An hallucination in which things, people, or animals seem smaller than they would be in real life. Lilliputian refers to the “little people” who lived (fictionally) on the island of Lilliput in Jonathan Swift’s 1726 masterpiece Gulliver’s Travels.

The term “Lilliputian hallucination” was coined by John Todd, an English psychiatrist (1914-1987) who also called it the Alice in Wonderland syndrome.

Synonyms

illiberal, insular, narrow, little, narrow-minded, parochial, petty, picayune, provincial, sectarian, small, small-minded

 

I have links throughout this post to the websites where the information was gathered from.