Hobbididance

A Hobbididance, or Hoberdidance, was a malevolent sprite mentioned in the traditional English morris dance. It was the name of one of the fiends in Shakespeare's King Lear:

Poor Tom hath been scared out of his good wits: bless thee, good man’s son, from the foul fiend! Five fiends have been in poor Tom at once; of lust, as Obidicut; Hobbididance, prince of dumbness; Mahu, of stealing; Modo, of murder; and Flibbertigibbet, of mopping and mowing; who since possesses chambermaids and waiting-women. So, bless thee, master!

—King Lear, Act IV, Scene I

References

• "Hobbididance". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2nd ed. 1989.