dwarf

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. An abnormally small person, often having limbs and features atypically proportioned or formed.
2. n. An atypically small animal or plant.
3. n. A small creature resembling a human, often ugly, appearing in legends and fairy tales.
4. n. A dwarf star.
5. v. To check the natural growth or development of; stunt: "The oaks were dwarfed from lack of moisture” ( John Steinbeck).
6. v. To cause to appear small by comparison: "Together these two big men dwarfed the tiny Broadway office” ( Saul Bellow).
7. v. To become stunted or grow smaller.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A person of very small size; a human being much below the ordinary stature. True dwarfs (some of the most celebrated of whom have teen from 3 to less than 2 feet in height) are usually well formed; but dwarfishness is often accompanied by deformity or caused by disproportion of parts. In ancient, medieval, and later times, dwarfs have been in demand as personal attendants upon ladies and noblemen; and the ancient Romans practised methods of dwarfing persons artificially.
2. n. An animal or a plant much below the ordinary size of its species.
3. n. In Scand. myth., a diminutive and generally deformed being, dwelling in rocks and hills, and distinguished for skill in working metals.
4. Of small stature or size; of a size smaller than that common to its kind or species: as, a dwaf palm; dwarf trees. Among gardeners dwarf is used to distinguish fruit-trees of which the branches spring from the stem near the ground from riders or standards, the original stocks of which are several feet in height.
5. To hinder from growing to the natural size; make or keep small; prevent the due development of; stunt.
6. To cause to appear less than reality; cause to look or seem small by comparison; as, the cathedral dwarfs the houses around it.
7. To become less; become dwarfish or stunted.

Wiktionary

1. n. A creature from (especially Scandinavian and other Germanic) folklore, usually depicted as having supernatural powers and being skilled in metalworking. Sometimes pluralized dwarves, especially in modern fantasy literature.
2. n. A person with short stature, often one whose limbs are disproportionately small in relation to the body as compared with normal adults, usually as the result of a genetic condition.
3. n. An animal, plant or other thing much smaller than the usual of its sort.
4. n. astronomy A star of relatively small size.
5. adj. Miniature.
6. v. transitive To render (much) smaller, turn into a dwarf (version).
7. v. transitive To make appear (much) smaller, puny, tiny.
8. v. transitive To make appear insignificant.
9. v. intransitive To become (much) smaller.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. An animal or plant which is much below the ordinary size of its species or kind.
2. n. 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.
3. n. (Folklore) A small, usually misshapen person, typically a man, who may have magical powers; mythical dwarves were often depicted as living underground in caves.
4. v. To hinder from growing to the natural size; to make or keep small; to stunt.
5. v. To become small; to diminish in size.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. make appear small by comparison
2. n. a plant or animal that is atypically small
3. n. a legendary creature resembling a tiny old man; lives in the depths of the earth and guards buried treasure
4. v. check the growth of
5. n. a person who is markedly small