(in folklore) one of a class of preternatural beings, especially from mountainous regions, with magical powers, given to capricious and often mischievous interference in human affairs, and usually imagined to be a diminutive being in human form; sprite; fairy.
a diminutive person, especially a child.
a mischievous person, especially a child.
(in folklore) one of a kind of legendary beings, usually characterized as small, manlike, and mischievous
a mischievous or whimsical child
Plural word for elf The plural form of elf is elves, pronounced [ elvz ]. The plurals of some other singular words that end -f are also formed in this way, including leaf/leaves, wife/wives, and knife/knives. A similar change is made when pluralizing hoof as hooves. Irregular plurals that are formed like elves derive directly from their original pluralization in Old English.
See fairy.
First recorded before 1000; Middle English, from Old English ælf, elf, ylf, akin to Old High German alp “incubus” ( Middle High German alp , German Alp “nightmare”), Old Norse álfr, Danish alf “elf” ælfen; see elfin
An elf is a mythological creature that's said to be tiny, magical, and a little mischievous. Elves are not just known for giving Santa a hand. In fact, ancient Anglo-Saxon medical books ascribed some illnesses to elves. Old English texts often blamed elves for sharp pains and mental disturbances — they were said to cause illness with sharp weapons, such as arrows. The folklore and myths of Scotland, Iceland, and Germany are particularly famous for the inclusion of elves. An elf's tiny size has also led to the use of elfin or elf-like to describe a small person's features: "His little elfin nose was so cute."
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Beauty’s ELF -3.66%decrease; red down pointing triangle guidance for the year disappointed Wall Street.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 7, 2025
Beauty ELF -0.39%decrease; red down pointing triangle tanked after the beauty company issued guidance for the year below Wall Street’s expectations, as uncertainty swirls around the American consumer.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 5, 2025
So the federal government went to work pursuing ELF members with alacrity, heaping sentence-lengthening terrorism enhancements on members to the point that, by 2006, the group basically ceased to exist.
From Slate • Jun. 22, 2025
Agency analysts had tried monitoring the phone traffic of activists, seeing who was calling whom, on the assumption the ELF could be taken down like a drug gang.
From New York Times • May 26, 2022
"Out of eleven wells," says gentle Dulness, "EILF or ELF QUELLEN, whence its name, Elbe for ELF."
From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 15 by Carlyle, Thomas
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.
