greeble

plural greebles

1. A small piece of detailing added to break up the surface of an object and add visual interest, particularly in movie special effects.

   Synonyms: nurnie

2. human sciencesAny of a set of invented novel objects used as stimuli in psychological studies of object and face recognition.

   1 more example

   Because, compared to other objects, face recognition seems to be especially sensitive to stimulus orientation, Gauthier had subjects perform a matching task with upright or inverted faces and greebles in the scanner, hypothesizing that greeble expertise would be specific to viewing them in the trained, upright orientation.

   2005, Hugh W. Catts, Alan G. Kamhi, The Connections Between Language and Reading Disabilities, page 93

3. collectivecountable(informal, whimsical) An imaginary or invisible creature, such as a bug or spirit, that a cat or other pet is perceived to be chasing or reacting to, often characterized by sudden, frantic movements as if hunting something unseen.

present singular third person greebles · participle present greebling · participle past greebled · past greebled

1. transitiveTo add greebles to a surface.

   We're going to greeble the surface of the model to give it a more convincing look.