Category:Dwarf

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.]

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

Defn: 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 Dwarf, v. i.

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

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

Dwarf - A lean or emaciated person (Leviticus 21:20).