From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishdwarfdwarf1 /dwɔːf $ dwɔːrf/ noun (plural dwarfs or dwarves) [countable] 1 RFan imaginary creature that looks like a small man Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs2 SHORT PERSONa person who is a dwarf has not continued to grow to the normal height because of a medical condition. Many people think that this use is offensive. → white dwarf
Examples from the Corpus
dwarf• For the moment at least, she had forgotten that he was a dwarf and the biggest disappointment of her life.• The smallest, feeblest stars, called M5 red dwarfs, have about 5 percent of the mass of our Sun.• But the dwarfs are free of inner conflicts, and have no desire to move beyond their phallic existence to intimate relations.• You may want to embellish the walk through the woods and the dwarfs' house, and even name the dwarfs.• I was not hurt, but this time the dwarf was sent away from the palace as a punishment.• That is about the size of a typical white dwarf, the remnant left behind after the death of a normal star.dwarfdwarf2 adjective [only before noun] HBa dwarf plant or animal is much smaller than the usual size a dwarf coniferExamples from the Corpus
dwarf• a dwarf cherry tree• I also like the dwarf rudbeckia Toto.• For a small city lot, there are dwarf varieties that grow eight to 15 feet tall.dwarfdwarf3 verb [transitive] HIGHto be so big that other things are made to seem very small The cathedral is dwarfed by the surrounding skyscrapers.Grammar Dwarf is usually passive.→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
dwarf• The ship came slowly into the harbour, dwarfing all the surrounding boats.• It is a mountain range that dwarfs any subaerial system.• All is dwarfed at the end, though, by a chilling report and follow-up on the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre.• But that figure is dwarfed by the loss of the revenue and profits stream over the life of the field.• The smaller, older houses are dwarfed by the new apartment blocks and hotels.• Rachel was small and slight, and was dwarfed by the other competitors.• But those same polls have shown that Dole dwarfs Clinton on questions of honesty and integrity.• The 74 million Baby-Boom cohort dwarfs the 40 million Generation Xers.• Once the work was hung I wanted it to occupy the space comfortably without dwarfing the area or appearing lost.• In addition to the scale, the basement contained the weight room and lockers and it dwarfed the gym above us.Origin dwarf1 Old English dweorg 