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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Dwarf \Dwarf\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Dwarfed}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Dwarfing}.] 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.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Dwarf \Dwarf\, noun; pl. {Dwarfs}. [OE. dwergh, dwerf, dwarf, AS. dweorg, dweorh; akin to D. dwerg, MHG. twerc, G. zwerg, Icel. dvergr, Sw. & Dan. dverg; of unknown origin.]
1. An animal or plant which is much below the ordinary size of its species or kind.
2. Especially: A diminutive human being, small in stature due to a pathological condition which causes a distortion of the proportions of body parts to each other, such as the limbs, torso, and head. A person of unusually small height who has normal body proportions is usually called a {midget}. [PJC]
Note: During the Middle Ages dwarfs as well as fools shared the favor of courts and the nobility.
3. (Folklore) A small, usually misshapen person, typically a man, who may have magical powers; mythical dwarves were often depicted as living underground in caves. [PJC]
Note: Dwarf is used adjectively in reference to anything much below the usual or normal size; as, a dwarf pear 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.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Dwarf \Dwarf\, verb (used without an object) To become small; to diminish in size.
Strange power of the world that, the moment we enter it, our great conceptions dwarf. --Beaconsfield.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
dwarf
noun
1: a person who is abnormally small [syn: {midget}, {nanus}]
2: a legendary creature resembling a tiny old man; lives in the depths of the earth and guards buried treasure [syn: {gnome}]
verb
1: make appear small by comparison; "This year's debt dwarves that of last year" [syn: {shadow}, {overshadow}]
2: check the growth of; "the lack of sunlight dwarfed these pines" [also: {dwarves} (pl)]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
131 Moby Thesaurus words for "dwarf": Ariel, Befind, Corrigan, Finnbeara, Lilliputian, Mab, Oberon, Titania, Tom Thumb, ace, atom, banshee, bedwarf, belittle, bit, bitsy, brownie, cluricaune, dab, de-emphasize, detract from, diminish, diminutive, dole, dominate, dot, downplay, dram, dribble, driblet, dumpy, dwarfed, dwarfish, elf, elfin, fairy, fairy queen, farthing, fay, fleck, flyspeck, fragment, gnome, gobbet, goblin, grain, granule, gremlin, groat, hair, handful, hob, homunculus, imp, incipient, iota, jot, kobold, leprechaun, lilliputian, little, little bit, manikin, meager, midge, midget, miniature, minify, minikin, minim, minimize, minimum, minimus, minutiae, mite, modicum, molecule, mote, nanoid, nutshell, ounce, ouphe, overshadow, particle, pebble, peewee, peri, pinch, pip-squeak, pittance, pixie, play down, point, pooka, puca, pwca, pygmy, rudimental, rudimentary, runt, runty, scraggy, scrubby, scruple, shrimp, shriveled, shrunk, shrunken, smidgen, smitch, speck, spoonful, spot, sprite, squat, stunted, suppress, sylph, sylphid, thimbleful, tiny bit, tittle, trifling amount, trivia, underplay, undersize, undersized, wart, wee, whit, wizened
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:
Dwarf a lean or emaciated person (Lev. 21:20).
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