dwarfs

Noun

dwarf (plural dwarfs or dwarves)

1. Any member of a race of beings from (especially Scandinavian and other Germanic) folklore, usually depicted as having some sort of supernatural powers and being skilled in crafting and metalworking, often as short with long beards, and sometimes as clashing with elves.
   • [T]he elf king and his queen made a royal progress every noon with a splendid retinue of dwarves and sprites, […]1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow, 1st US edition, New York: Viking Press, →ISBN, part 3: In the Zone, page 419

   Synonyms:

   dwarfin, dwarrow

2. (offensive, sometimes) A person of short stature, often one whose limbs are disproportionately small in relation to the body as compared with typical adults, usually as the result of a genetic condition.
   • The nurse exclaimed it when I finally arrived, a month late (a habit I have kept). That's how my parents found out that I was a little person, a dwarf, of short stature.2014 September 12, Cara Reedy, “My life as a little person”, in CNN, archived from the original on 17 Feb 2016

   Synonyms:

   elf, midget, pygmy

   Antonyms:

   ettin, giant

3. An animal, plant or other thing much smaller than the usual of its sort.
   • dwarf tree

   Synonyms:

   runt

4. A dwarf star.
   • But none of those brown dwarfs were speeding along on a trajectory that would carry them out of the galaxy like “runaway” hypervelocity stars observed by astronomers in the last two decades. […] The study team said it’s likely the star was a companion to a white dwarf star, which is the remaining...2024 August 21, Ashley Strickland, “An unusual object is moving so fast it could escape the Milky Way. Scientists aren’t certain what it is”, in CNN, archived from the original on 24 Sep 2024

See all 11 meanings of dwarf