dwarf

Definitions

1. 1.An animal or plant which is much below the ordinary size of its species or kind; especially, a diminutive human being. Note: During the Middle Ages dwarfs as well as fools shared the favor of courts and the nobility. Note: Dwarf is used adjectively in reference to anything much below the usual or normal size; as, dwarf 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.
2. 2.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.
3. 3.To become small; to diminish in size. Strange power of the world that, the moment we enter it, our great conceptions dwarf. Beaconsfield.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Synonyms

Related questions

• What does "dwarf" mean?
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Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is dwarf.

• What is to become small; to diminish in size. Strange power of the world that, the moment we enter it, our great conceptions dwarf. Beaconsfield called?