- dwarf´ness
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–noun.1. a person, animal, or plant much smaller than the usual size for its kind: »
Mr. Bruce met a dwarf, dressed as a clown, who had entertained at parties in his own childhood (New Yorker).
2. (in fairy tales) an ugly little man with magic power.3. any one of a class of stars of small size and luminosity, including the sun, as distinguished from a giant star; dwarf star: »The Mount Wilson and Palomar workers conclude that the oldest dwarfs were formed while the galaxy was in its initial gravitational contraction from a larger protogalaxy (Scientific American).
–adjective.1. below the usual size for its kind; stopped in growth: »dwarf furniture. The northern parts of these forests extend into the Arctic regions where the trees are smaller, and at their extreme northern limit, even dwarf (Fred W. Emerson).
SYNONYM(S): dwarfish, pygmy.2. belonging to a species much smaller than related species: »a dwarf marigold.
–transitive verb.1. to keep from growing large; check in growth; stunt: »The Pygmies of the deep forests…may be dwarfed descendants of some of the Olduvai…folk (Harper's).
2. Figurative. to cause to look or seem small by contrast or by distance: »That tall building dwarfs all those around it.
3. Figurative. to make small or insignificant in extent or character: »The incessant repetition of the same handiwork dwarfs the man (Emerson).
–intransitive verb.to become dwarfed or smaller.╂[Middle English dwerf, Old English dweorg]–dwarf´ness, noun.Synonym Study noun. 1 Dwarf, midget mean a person very much smaller than normal. Dwarf applies particularly to a person whose growth has been stunted, usually by glandular deficiency, and who often has limbs that are very short compared with the head and body, which may be normal in size: »Walt Disney used dwarfs in a movie.
Dwarf may be applied to a stunted animal or plant. With plants, however, dwarf usually refers not to the individual but to a kind or variety smaller than related varieties, either because of natural differentiation or because of breeding: »the dwarf birch.
Midget applies to a small person with proportional body parts.
Useful english dictionary. 2012.
