Word.ws English Dictionary

elf-shot

elf-shot adjective: maliciously wounded or sickened as a result of having been shot by an elf.

Adjective

elf-shot (not comparable)

  1. (Anglo-Saxon and UK mythology and folklore) Maliciously wounded or sickened as a result of having been shot by an elf.
    • Without visible mark or sign she was elf-shot; and the proof of this appeared from her going off her milk, dwining away, and dying before her calves could be counted on the hooves of one foot.1897 August 5, The Morning Bulletin, Rockhampton, Qld, page 4, column 5
    • The malicious elves did not confine their attacks to human beings; references to elf-shot cattle are numerous.1922, Eleanour Sinclair Rohde, The Old English Herbals, page 16
  2. Of a missile, fired by an elf.
    • There, ev'ry herd, by sad experience, knows
      How, wing'd with Fate, their elf-shot arrows fly,
      When the sick ewe her summer food foregoes,
      Or, stretch'd on earth, the heart-smit heifers lie.1789, William Collins, An Ode on the Popular Superstitions of the Highlands of Scotland, London: J. Bell, page 11
    • Ley whatever elf-shot darts, whatever flying venoms, be concentrated among those already ill.2018, Lauren B. Davis, Against A Darkening Sky, Canelo + ORM

Noun

elf-shot (countable and uncountable, plural elf-shots)

  1. An elf arrow; elf arrows.
    • In Scotland the flint arrow heads are denominated ‘elf shots,’ from a belief among the people that they are of rib human formation, but the shot with which the elves or fairies assail cattle, and there are many superstitions in connection with them.1906 August 7, The Clarence River Advocate, NSW, page 4, column 5
    • Frequently this practitioner would keep a stock of elf-shot from which one would be produced by sleight of hand from the ailing animal's flank as evidence that it had indeed been elf-shot.1976, Ulster Folklife

Forms of elf-shot

pluralelf-shots

Questions about elf-shot

What does elf-shot mean?
Elf-shot means maliciously wounded or sickened as a result of having been shot by an elf.
What part of speech is elf-shot?
Elf-shot can be an adjective or a noun.

Words near elf-shot in the dictionary

  1. elf-maids
  2. elf-man
  3. elf-men
  4. elf-queen
  5. elf-queens
  6. elf-shot
  7. elf-shots
  8. elfamycin
  9. elfamycins
  10. elfazepam
  11. elfbein

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: elf-shot (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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