dwarf Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a person who is markedly small
    midget; nanus.
  2. noun a legendary creature resembling a tiny old man; lives in the depths of the earth and guards buried treasure
    gnome.
  3. noun a plant or animal that is atypically small
  4. verb make appear small by comparison
    shadow; overshadow.
    • This year's debt dwarfs that of last year
  5. verb check the growth of
    • the lack of sunlight dwarfed these pines

WordNet

Dwarf noun
Etymology
OE. dwergh, dwerf, dwarf, AS. dweorg, dweorh; akin to D. dwerg, MHG. twerc, G. zwerg, Icel. dvergr, Sw. & Dan. dverg; of unknown origin.
Wordforms
plural Dwarfs
Definitions
  1. An animal or plant which is much below the ordinary size of its species or kind; especially, a diminutive human being. ✍ 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, dwarf tree; dwarf honeysuckle. Gwilt.
Dwarf transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Dwarfed ; present participle & verbal noun Dwarfing
Definitions
  1. 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 intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To become small; to diminish in size.
    Strange power of the world that, the moment we enter it, our great conceptions dwarf. Beaconsfield.

Webster 1913