elves

American

[elvz] / ɛlvz /

noun

plural of elf.

elves British

/ ɛlvz /

noun

the plural of elf

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

elves Cultural

Often small, mischievous creatures thought to have magical powers. Although some elves are friendly to humans, others are spiteful and destructive. Elves have long been a staple of folklore, from Germanic mythology to J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, in which the elves speak a special language called Elvish.

Example Sentences

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elves

More than 25,000 people attend the annual SantaCon event in New York City, dressed up as Santa Claus, elves and other holiday characters.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026

Some of my favorite comics are also experts on elves and superheroes.

From Salon ● Apr. 2, 2026

The other DHS clip is a montage of Yuletide cheer — Santa, elves, stockings, dancing — over a sped-up electro-trash remake of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 23, 2025

"All the other children were dressed as elves," she said.

From BBC ● Dec. 5, 2025

Hermione frowned at him, but the elves all looked delighted; they bowed very low and retreated.

From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023