dwarf

[dwawrf]

noun, plural dwarfs, dwarves.

a person of abnormally small stature owing to a pathological condition, especially one suffering from cretinism or some other disease that produces disproportion or deformation of features and limbs.

an animal or plant much smaller than the average of its kind or species.

(in folklore) a being in the form of a small, often misshapen and ugly, man, usually having magic powers.

Astronomy. dwarf star.

adjective

of unusually small stature or size; diminutive.

verb (used with object)

to cause to appear or seem small in size, extent, character, etc., as by being much larger or better: He dwarfed all his rivals in athletic ability.

to make dwarf or dwarfish; prevent the due development of.

verb (used without object)

to become stunted or smaller.

Origin of dwarf

before 900; Middle English dwerf, Old English dweorh; replacing Middle English dwerg, Old English dweorg; cognate with Old High German twerg, Old Norse dvergr

Related formsdwarf·like, adjectivedwarf·ness, nounun·dwarfed, adjective

Synonyms for dwarf

2. runt, miniature.

Synonym study

1. Dwarf, midget, pygmy are terms for a very small person. A dwarf is someone checked in growth or stunted, or in some way not normally formed. A midget (not in technical use) is someone perfect in form and normal in function, but diminutive. A Pygmy is properly a member of one of certain small-sized peoples of Africa and Asia, but the word is often used imprecisely to mean dwarf or midget. Dwarf is a term often used to describe very small plants. Pygmy is used to describe very small animals.

Antonyms for dwarf

1, 5. giant.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for dwarfness

Historical Examples of dwarfness

A given gamete could carry tallness or dwarfness, but not both.
Mendelism
Reginald Crundall Punnett
For coloured flowers are dominant to white, and tallness is dominant to dwarfness.
Mendelism
Reginald Crundall Punnett
There are plants that are dwarf and can transmit only Dwarfness to offspring.
Feminism and Sex-Extinction
Arabella Kenealy
Dwarfness and Weakness are indirect and negative factors therein.
Feminism and Sex-Extinction
Arabella Kenealy
These last combine the erect bush-like habit of growth with the dwarfness of the Cupid.
Abstracts of Papers Read at the First International Eugenics Congress
Various

British Dictionary definitions for dwarfness

dwarf

noun plural dwarfs or dwarves (dwɔːvz)

an abnormally undersized person, esp one with a large head and short arms and legsCompare midget

an animal or plant much below the average height for the species
(as modifier)a dwarf tree

(in folklore) a small ugly manlike creature, often possessing magical powers

astronomy short for dwarf star

verb

to become or cause to become comparatively small in size, importance, etc

(tr) to stunt the growth of

Derived Formsdwarfish, adjectivedwarfishly, adverbdwarfishness, noun

Word Origin for dwarf

Old English dweorg; related to Old Norse dvergr, Old High German twerc

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

Word Origin and History for dwarfness

dwarf

Old English dweorh, dweorg (West Saxon), duerg (Mercian), "very short human being," from Proto-Germanic *dweraz (cf. Old Frisian dwerch, Old Saxon dwerg, Old High German twerg, German Zwerg, Old Norse dvergr), perhaps from PIE *dhwergwhos "something tiny," but with no established cognates outside Germanic. The mythological sense is 1770, from German (it seems never to have developed independently in English).

Whilst in this and other ways the dwarfs do at times have dealings with mankind, yet on the whole they seem to shrink from man; they give the impression of a downtrodden afflicted race, which is on the point of abandoning its ancient home to new and more powerful invaders. There is stamped on their character something shy and something heathenish, which estranges them from intercourse with christians. They chafe at human faithlessness, which no doubt would primarily mean the apostacy from heathenism. In the poems of the Mid. Ages, Laurin is expressly set before us as a heathen. It goes sorely against the dwarfs to see churches built, bell-ringing ... disturbs their ancient privacy; they also hate the clearing of forests, agriculture, new fangled pounding-machinery for ore. ["Teutonic Mythology," Jacob Grimm, transl. Stallybrass, 1883]

The shift of the Old English guttural at the end of the word to modern -f is typical (cf. enough, draft). Old English plural dweorgas became Middle English dwarrows, later leveled down to dwarfs. The use of dwarves for the legendary race was popularized by J.R.R. Tolkien. As an adjective, from 1590s.