Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An undersized animal, especially the smallest animal of a litter.
- noun Derogatory A short person.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A young ox or cow; a steer or heifer; also, a stunted ox or cow, or other under-sized animal; one below the usual size and strength of its kind; especially, the smallest or weakest one of a litter of pigs or puppies. Compare def. 4.
- noun Hence A short, stockish person; a dwarf.
- noun A rude, ill-bred person; a boor or hoiden.
- noun A breed of domestic pigeons. A single bird may weigh as much as 2 1/2 pounds.
- noun A stump of underwood; also, the dead stump of a tree.
- noun The stalk or stem of a plant.
- noun The rump.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) Any animal which is unusually small, as compared with others of its kind; -- applied particularly to domestic animals.
- noun (Zoöl.) A variety of domestic pigeon, related to the barb and carrier.
- noun A dwarf; also, a mean, despicable, boorish person; -- used opprobriously.
- noun Obs. or Prov. Eng. The dead stump of a tree; also, the stem of a plant.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The smallest animal of a
litter . - noun
Undersized orstunted plant, animal or person. - noun computing An
Ethernet packet that does not meet themedium 'sminimum packet size of 64bytes . - noun typography A single
word (or portion of ahyphenated word) that appears as the last line of aparagraph . - noun A breed of
pigeon related to thecarrier pigeon . - noun obsolete, UK, dialect A hardened stem or stalk of a plant.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun disparaging terms for small people
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Support
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Examples
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Fred ♪ ♫ ♪ says: dr runt is just sound. like wind.
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Insidious Prophet says: dr. runt is now playing the role of alfred.
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Fred ♪ ♫ ♪ says: dr runt is a proven liar. the republicans may not get a president elected for a generation now.
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Fred ♪ ♫ ♪ says: dbadass, dr runt is feeling guilty. the white flag of surrender at 460
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We'd named Baby A-- the one the doctor had called the "runt" -- Cameron; Baby B was Matthew.
The Preemie Prism: As her twins enter high school, a mom reflects on their perilous journey Tracey A. Reeves 2010
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Franny, Zooey, and Boo Boo* and then Kent -- insisting that he would feel more invested in these chicks if he could name one -- named the runt, Scrambly.
Chicken Update Sarah Lenz 2009
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Franny, Zooey, and Boo Boo* and then Kent -- insisting that he would feel more invested in these chicks if he could name one -- named the runt, Scrambly.
Archive 2009-04-01 Sarah Lenz 2009
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Dwarfs may have normal bodies but with either short legs or arms, or both; a runt is a small specimen in a litter or drove; pygmies were a mythical creation of the
David Lannarck, Midget An Adventure Story George S. Harney
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Who'd have thought that the runt was the smartest of the family?
The Tale of Grunty Pig Slumber-Town Tales Arthur Scott Bailey 1913
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The runt is a bird of great size, with long massive beak and large feet; some of the sub-breeds of runts have very long necks, others very long wings and tails, others singularly short tails.
I. Variation under Domestication. Breeds of the Domestic Pigeon, Their Differences and Origin 1909
reesetee commented on the word runt
Old nickname for wrens. See Jenny wren.
February 13, 2008
bilby commented on the word runt
Pigs, WeirdNet, pigs!
May 16, 2009
yarb commented on the word runt
I love wordie because I see a word like this and I realise what a stunning word it is.
May 16, 2009
amacleod03 commented on the word runt
figuratively, A short-statured person.
July 27, 2009
dinkum commented on the word runt
WORD runt
Two EXAMPLES from Charlotte's Web:
(1) " Where's Papa going with that ax?" said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.
"Out to the hoghouse," replied Mrs. Arable. "Some pigs were born last night."
"I don't see why he needs an ax," continued Fern, who was only eight.
"Well," said her mother, "one of the pigs is a runt. It's very small and weak, and it will never amount to anything. So your father has decided to do away with it."
"Do away with it?" shrieked Fern. "You mean kill it? Just because it's smaller than the others?"
Mrs. Arable put a pitcher of cream on the table. "Don't yell, Fern!" she said. "Your father is right. The pig would probably die anyway."
-- 1952 E.B. WHITE. Charlotte's Web. Chapter I -- Before Breakfast (page 1).
(2) "But it's unfair," cried Fern. "The pig couldn't help being born small, could it?" If I had been very small at birth, would you you have killed me?"
Mr. Arable smiled. "Certainly not," he said, looking down at his daughter with love. "But this is different. A little girl is one thing, a little runty pig is another."
"I see no difference," replied Fern, still hanging on to the ax. "This is the most terrible case of injustice I ever heard of."
A queer look came over John Arable's face. He seemed almost ready to cry himself.
"All right," he said. "You go back to the house and I will bring the runt when I come in. I'll let you start it on a bottle, like a baby. Then you'll see what trouble a pig can be."
-- 1952 E.B. WHITE. Charlotte's Web. Chapter I -- Before Breakfast (pages 2 - 3).
September 25, 2013