Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A small, often mischievous creature considered to have magical powers.
- n. A lively, mischievous child.
- n. A usually sprightly or mischievous or sometimes spiteful person.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An imaginary being superstitiously supposed to inhabit unfrequented places, and in various ways to affect mankind; a sprite; a fairy; a goblin. Elves are usually imagined as diminutive tricksy beings in human form, given to capricious interference, either kindly or mischievous, in human affairs.
- n. A mischievous or wicked person; a knave; a rogue.
- n. A diminutive person; a dwarf; hence, a pet name for a child, especially one who is very sprightly and graceful. Synonyms Sprite, hobgoblin, imp.
- To entangle intricately, as the hair.
Wiktionary
- n. A mythical, supernatural being resembling but seen as distinct from humans.
- n. Norse mythology A luminous spirit presiding over nature and fertility and dwelling in the world of Álfheim (Elfland). Compare angel, nymph, fairy.
- n. fantasy Any of the magical, humanoid, typically forest-guarding races bearing some similarities to the Norse álfar (through Tolkien's Eldar).
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. An imaginary supernatural being, commonly a little sprite, much like a fairy; a mythological diminutive spirit, supposed to haunt hills and wild places, and generally represented as delighting in mischievous tricks.
- n. A very diminutive person; a dwarf.
- v. To entangle mischievously, as an elf might do.
WordNet 3.0
- n. (folklore) fairies that are somewhat mischievous
- n. below 3 kilohertz
Etymologies
- From Middle English, from Old English ælf ("incubus, elf"), from Proto-Germanic *albiz. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old English ælf; see albho- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“My books have almost none of that, and the term elf is never used though Tolkein's elves are probably close to my high court sidhe in appeance but where I always felt the elves in his world would never want to get dirty enough to have really good, squealchy sex, my sidhe are very sensual and very sexual beings.”
“(The elf is not the most courageous of our heroes, unfortunately) While reforging the key to the door that would lead them even deeper down, the heroes were overrun by enemies, but the key was ready mere seconds before they had to make a hasty retreat.”
“Marcus, who works in a mall as an elf is definitely an angry elf.”
“And the question becomes: can an elf be classified as a space chick, even if the elf is - technically speaking - in space?”
“** Simply*Sam**: zooey singing in elf skip to main | skip to sidebar”
“In fact, the only thing that can put the hurt on an elf is iron.”
“Now we know the sourpuss house elf is going to play a big element later.”
Writer Unboxed » Blog Archive » MOVIE ANALYSIS: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Part 2
“No elf is going to sprinkle fairy dust on them and make them fall in love with us.”
Think Progress » Sen. Edward Kennedy says voting against the Iraq war
“After celebrating their roots (Santa, wife, and elves are all black, I should probably note) the jolly old elf is so pleased that he takes everyone up for a big old sleigh ride, lighting up the sky with colors (ala the Northern Lights) that wish everyone in the world peace and goodwill.”
“I myself know relatively little about Kwanzaa, so the section in the back in which each elf is named and given a definition, (example: “Ujima is responsible for solving problems”) passed way way over my head.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘elf’.
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MYTH - spooky creatures
carrion-eater, solar bird, giant boar, black dog, guardian, fire giant, marsh nymph, fish pike, undead, skeleton, horned snake, pegasus and 607 more...
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Words that are also movies
Unabashedly stolen from a comment made by courier12.
vertigo, serendipity, casablanca, psycho, jaws, fantasia, stagecoach, network, rocky, giant, platoon, unforgiven and 285 more...
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butterflies, moths etc
harlequin metalmark, policeman, razorbill, common evening Brown, large blue, little bride unde..., little nymph unde..., plain golden Y, common mormon, skullcap skeleton..., Beautiful Golden Y, uncertain owlet and 170 more...
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supernatural creatures according to M...
Turned this up on etymonline.com (link). It's amazing.
Hobbit (n.)
1937, coined in the fantasy tales of J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973).
On a blank leaf I scrawled: 'In a hole...ghost, boggle, bloody-bones, spirit, demon, ignis fatuus, brownie, bugbear, black dog, specter, shellycoat, scarecrow and 186 more...
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Dungeons and Dragons
Would you like to join our party? We just started a new campaign.
For more general lists about role-playing games, see brandelion's RPG and lampbane's Tales of the Dread Gazebo.dungeons and dragons, d&d, elf, orc, halfling, drow, giant, troll, kobold, rpg, d20, human and 100 more...
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PECH - marine species
African cuttlefish, Alaska plaice, Alaska pollock, Alaska pollack, walleye pollock, alewife, gaspereau, river herring, sawbelly, allis shad, American angler, goosefish and 994 more...
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Mythical Beings
mermaid, manticore, fairy, brownie, dwarf, elf, leprechaun, selkie, gremlin, puck, pixie, genie and 97 more...
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3-letter Scrabble Words
aah, aal, aas, aba, abo, abs, aby, ace, act, add, ado, ads and 995 more...
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3 Letter Words
A list of English words that are three letters long.
ace, act, ade, ado, add, ads, age, ago, ail, air, aim, all and 397 more...
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Phantasmas
Ouroboros, chimera, incubus, cerberus, hippogriff, leviathan, centaur, Jabberwock, numen, snark, sphinx, hippocamp and 26 more...
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Mythical Word List
All words with mythical connotations.
nymph, pixie, elf, elves, wizard, faerie, minotaur, unicorn, wand, witch, sprite, faun and 5 more...
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♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
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What's That Pokémon Name?
Words used to create the names of Pokémon, which are usually portmanteaux.
bulb, dinosaur, ivy, venus, char, salamander, squirt, turtle, blast, tortoise, water, caterpillar and 525 more...
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A List of Mythical Proportions
All of these things exist, I swear!
unicorn, pegasus, cyclops, yeti, abominable snowman, bigfoot, phoenix, thunderbird, sea serpent, ogre, grue, troll and 138 more...
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strangelyrouge's Words
glockenspiel, gewgaw, jetsam, flotsam, gripe, grab, wench, whilst, betwixt, hither, thither, yonder and 1034 more...
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The Devil and His Imps
Names of 'the Devil himself, the devils his "flaming ministers", household goblins, rural demons, bogles, sprites, and fairies of all kinds' mentioned in Charles P.G. Scott's 'The Devil and His Imp...
devil, devilet, deviling, dablet, black angel, black man, black bear, black bull, black dog, bogle, bogie, boggard and 128 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for elf.
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