ENGLISH
REFERENCE

dwarf

n. · v. · adj.
US //ˈdwɔɹf// UK //dwˈɔːf// dwarf
  1. 1 mythology (n.)
    B1 Intermediate Religion

    a small, strong creature in fantasy stories who often lives underground and works with metal.

    a member of a race of beings from Germanic folklore, typically depicted as short, bearded, and skilled in smithing.

    Example

    In the movie, the dwarf lived in a mountain and made beautiful gold jewellery.

    Example

    The author drew heavily on Norse mythology, portraying the dwarf as a master craftsman capable of forging magical weapons for the gods.
  2. 2 astronomy (n.)
    C1 Advanced Technical Science

    a type of star that is relatively small and not very bright.

    a star of relatively small size and low luminosity.

    Example

    Our sun is actually classified as a yellow dwarf star.

    Example

    The white dwarf represents the final evolutionary state of stars whose mass is not high enough to become a neutron star.
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  1. 3 to make look small (v.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    to be so big that you make everything else around you look very small.

    to cause something to appear small or insignificant by being much larger or more important.

    Example

    The new skyscraper dwarfs all the other buildings in the city.

    Example

    The scale of the humanitarian crisis threatened to dwarf the resources currently available to the local aid agencies.
  2. 4 miniature (adj.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate Science

    much smaller than the usual size for that type of plant or animal.

    denoting a species or variety of animal or plant much smaller than the typical size.

    Example

    We planted a dwarf apple tree in our small backyard because it doesn't grow too tall.

    Example

    The gardener recommended a dwarf variety of the shrub to ensure it would not obstruct the view from the ground-floor windows.
Origin

From Middle English dwergh, dwerw, dwerf, from Old English dweorg, from Proto-West Germanic dwerg, from Proto-Germanic dwergaz. Cognate with Scots droich, dwerch (“dwarf, midget”); Old High German twerc (German, Luxembourgish Zwerg (“dwarf”)); Old Norse dvergr (Danish dværg (“dwarf, midget”), Faroese dvørgur (“dwarf”), Icelandic dvergur (“dwarf”), Norwegian Bokmål dverg (“dwarf”), Norwegian Nynorsk dverg, verg (“dwarf”), Swedish dvärg (“dwarf”)); Old Frisian dwirg (Saterland Frisian Dwärch (“dwarf”), West Frisian dwerch (“dwarf”)); Middle Low German dwerch, dwarch, twerg (German Low German Dwarg (“dwarf”)); Middle Dutch dwerch, dworch (Dutch dwerg (“dwarf”)). The Modern English noun has undergone complex phonetic changes. The form dwarf is the regular continuation of Old English dweorg, but the plural dweorgas would have given rise to dwarrows and the oblique stem dweorge- would have led to dwery. These forms are sometimes found as the nominative singular in Middle English texts and in English dialects. A parallel case is that of Old English burg giving burgh, borough, burrow, bury.

Idioms1 entry

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