Dwarf (?), n.; 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.]
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.
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.
© Webster 1913.
Dwarf, v. t. [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.
© Webster 1913.
Dwarf, v. i.
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.