# dwarf

Pronunciation: US say "DWORF" /dwɔɹf/; UK say "DWAWF" /dwɔːf/

## Noun

1. A member of a race of beings from Germanic, especially Scandinavian, folklore, usually shown with supernatural powers and skill at crafts and metalwork, often short and long-bearded, sometimes at odds with elves.
   - Simple: A short, magic being in old stories, often with a long beard, who is good at making things from metal.
   - _The hero bargained with a dwarf for a sword that would never break._
   - _Deep beneath the mountains, the dwarfs hammered gold into wondrous treasures._
4. A person of short stature, often with limbs short in proportion to the body compared with typical adults, usually because of a genetic condition.
   - Simple: A person who is much shorter than most adults, usually because of a condition they were born with.
   - _As a dwarf, she campaigned for counters and kiosks that people of every height can reach._
   - _Doctors told the parents that their daughter would grow up to be a dwarf, like her mother._
5. Short for dwarf star: a small, dim star or similar object, such as a red, white, or brown dwarf.
   - Simple: Short for dwarf star, a kind of small star.
   - _The planet orbits a red dwarf with about a third of the sun's mass._
   - _The survey found hundreds of cool brown dwarfs drifting between the stars._
6. An animal, plant, or other thing much smaller than is usual for its kind.
   - Simple: An animal, plant, or thing that is much smaller than others of its kind.
   - _Most of the calves grew normally, but one was a dwarf that never caught up._
   - _Gardeners prize the variety as a dwarf that stays compact without pruning._

## Adjective

2. Of a miniature kind, smaller than the usual size, especially of plants.
   - Simple: Much smaller than usual, especially for plants.
   - _We planted a dwarf apple tree that will stay under eight feet tall._
   - _Alpine forms of the willow are very dwarf, hugging the rocks._

## Verb

3. To be so much bigger or more important than something that it seems small or insignificant by comparison.
   - Simple: To be so much bigger or better than something that it looks small or unimportant next to it.
   - _Its towers dwarf every other building in the old town._
   - _The fishing boat was dwarfed by the cruise ship docked beside it._
7. To stop something from growing to its natural size, or to breed or develop a much smaller form of it.
   - Simple: To keep a plant or animal small, or to breed a smaller kind of it.
   - _Gardeners dwarf bonsai trees by pruning their roots and branches._
   - _Years of poor feeding had dwarfed the herd, and the cattle were half the usual size._
8. To become much smaller.
   - Simple: To get much smaller.
   - _Near the tree line, the spruces dwarf into twisted mats only a foot high._
   - _Cut off on small islands, some elephants dwarfed over many generations to the size of a pony._

## Origin

From Middle English dwergh, dwerf, from Old English dweorg, from Proto-Germanic *dwergaz; it is related to German Zwerg, Old Norse dvergr, Dutch dwerg and Swedish dvärg. Dwarf is the regular descendant of Old English dweorg, while the plural dweorgas would have given dwarrows and the stem dweorge- would have given dwery, forms sometimes found in Middle English texts and English dialects.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/dwarf (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).