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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

You can watch our soldiers rappel out of one of the Seahawks just like Santa’s elves.

From Salon • Dec. 24, 2025

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

The family only realised there had been a mix-up when he appeared with classmates dressed as elves, Jade said.

From BBC • Dec. 5, 2025

Brownies at that time was a strange organization in which the girls were divided into groups named after different kinds of fairies—pixies, elves and gnomes were the groups in our outfit.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 2, 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