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Webster 1913 Edition
Dwarf
Dwarf
,Noun.
pl.
Dwarfs
(#)
. [OE.
dwergh
, dwerf
, dwarf
, AS. dweorg
, dweorh
; akin to D. dwerg
, MHG. twerc
, G. zwerg
, Icel. dvergr
, Sw. & Dan. dverg
; of unknown origin.] 1.
An animal or plant which is much below the ordinary size of its species or kind.
☞ During the Middle Ages dwarfs as well as fools shared the favor of courts and the nobility.
Dwarf is used adjectively in reference to anything much below the usual or normal size; as, a
dwarf
pear tree; dwarf
honeysuckle. Dwarf elder
(Bot.)
, danewort.
– Dwarf wall
(Arch.)
, a low wall, not as high as the story of a building, often used as a garden wall or fence.
Gwilt.
Dwarf
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Dwarfed
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Dwarfing
.] To hinder from growing to the natural size; to make or keep small; to stunt.
Addison.
Even the most common moral ideas and affections . . . would be stunted and
dwarfed
, if cut off from a spiritual background. J. C. Shairp.
Dwarf
,Verb.
I.
To become small; to diminish in size.
Strange power of the world that, the moment we enter it, our great conceptions
dwarf
. Beaconsfield.
Webster 1828 Edition
Dwarf
DWARF
,Noun.
1.
A general name for an animal or plant which is much below the ordinary size of the species or kind. A man that never grows beyond two or three feet in highth, is a dwarf. This word when used alone usually refers to the human species, but sometimes to other animals. When it is applied to plants, it is more generally used in composition; as a dwarf-tree; dwarf-elder.2.
An attendant on a lady or knight in romances.DWARF
,Verb.
T.