munchkin
Americannoun
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a small person, especially one who is dwarfish or elfin in appearance.
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Informal. a child.
The munchkins enjoyed holding and feeding the animals in the petting zoo.
noun
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informal an undersized person or a child, esp an appealing one
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a breed of medium-sized cat with short legs
Etymology
Origin of munchkin
After the Munchkins, a dwarflike race portrayed in L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) and other fantasy novels
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The film stars Grande as Glinda and Slater as Boq, a Munchkin friend at Shiz University.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 20, 2024
As flames engulfed his home, Frederick Shaw grabbed Munchkin, one of his five cats, and darted through a cloud of thick smoke gasping for air.
From New York Times • Aug. 17, 2023
After learning a box step or two, Amir was cast as a Munchkin and his love of the stage began.
From BBC • Dec. 16, 2022
"I don't think it's wise to live that long, Munchkin," she says as I pull on the oars.
From Salon • Oct. 31, 2021
My lights disturbed them, and they dropped off the ceiling and flitted past my head, giving off sounds that resembled Munchkin laughter.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
