DWARF

dwarf

(noun) a plant or animal that is atypically small

gnome, dwarf

(noun) a legendary creature resembling a tiny old man; lives in the depths of the earth and guards buried treasure

dwarf, midget, nanus

(noun) a person who is markedly small

dwarf

(verb) check the growth of; “the lack of sunlight dwarfed these pines”

shadow, overshadow, dwarf

(verb) make appear small by comparison; “This year’s debt dwarfs that of last year”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Noun

dwarf (plural dwarfs or dwarves)

(mythology) Any member of a race of beings from (especially Scandinavian and other Germanic) folklore, usually depicted as having some sort of supernatural powers and being skilled in crafting and metalworking, often as short with long beards, and sometimes as clashing with elves.

(now, often offensive) A person of short stature, often one whose limbs are disproportionately small in relation to the body as compared with normal adults, usually as the result of a genetic condition.

Synonyms: midget, pygmy (imprecise)

Antonyms: ettin, giant

An animal, plant or other thing much smaller than the usual of its sort.

Synonym: runt

(star) A star of relatively small size.

Usage notes

At first, dwarfs was the common plural in English. After J. R. R. Tolkien used dwarves in his works, that form became the standard for the plural of the mythological beings. For a non-mythological dwarf (people with dwarfism), dwarfs has remained the preferred plural form.

Adjective

dwarf (comparative dwarfer, )

(especially in botany) Miniature.

Verb

dwarf (third-person singular simple present dwarfs, present participle dwarfing, simple past and past participle dwarfed)

(transitive) To render (much) smaller, turn into a dwarf (version).

Synonyms: miniaturize, shrink

(transitive) To make appear (much) smaller, puny, tiny.

(transitive) To make appear insignificant.

Synonyms: eclipse, overshadow, outshadow, outshine, outdo, put to shame, upstage, surpass, outmatch, outstrip

(intransitive) To become (much) smaller.

Synonym: shrink

To hinder from growing to the natural size; to make or keep small; to stunt.

• J. C. Shairp

Source: Wiktionary

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Dwarf, n.; pl Dwarfs. Etym: [OE. dwergh, dwerf, dwarf, AS. dweorg, dweorh; akin to D. dwerg, MHG. twerc, G. zwerg, Icel. dvergr, Sw. & Dan. dverg; of unknown origin.]

Definition: An animal or plant which is much below the ordinary size of its species or kind; especially, a diminutive human being.

Note: During the Middle Ages dwarfs as well as fools shared the favor of courts and the nobility.

Note: Dwarf is used adjectively in reference to anything much below the usual or normal size; as, dwarf tree; dwarf honeysuckle. Dwarf elder (Bot.), danewort.

– Dwarf wall (Arch.), a low wall, not as high as the story of a building, often used as a garden wall or fence. Gwilt.

Dwarf, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dwarfed; p. pr. & vb. n. Dwarfing.]

Definition: To hinder from growing to the natural size; to make or keep small; to stunt. Addison. Even the most common moral ideas and affections . . . would be stunted and dwarfed, if cut off from a spiritual background. J. C. Shairp.

Dwarf, v. i.

Definition: To become small; to diminish in size. Strange power of the world that, the moment we enter it, our great conceptions dwarf. Beaconsfield.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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