“Object” vs “Object Variable” in Java?

Question

I am teaching myself Java, and one of the review exercises in my book asks for the difference between an \"object\" and an \"object variable.\"

I know what an object is

Answer 1

At university its tought, that an Object Variable is: "a variable whose type is a class, and which holds a reference to an object that is an instance of that class"

Object thing = new Object();