ELF • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Elf

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/ɛlf/ Listen

noun

Elf n. (pl. elves)

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. "Every elf, and fairy sprite, Hop as light as bird from brier."

A very diminutive person; a dwarf.

Elf arrow, a flint arrowhead; so called by the English rural folk who often find these objects of prehistoric make in the fields and formerly attributed them to fairies; called also elf bolt, elf dart, and elf shot.

Elf child, a child supposed to be left by elves, in room of one they had stolen. See Changeling.

Elf fire, the ignis fatuus.

Elf owl (Zoöl.), a small owl (Micrathene Whitneyi) of Southern California and Arizona.

verb

Elf v. t. To entangle mischievously, as an elf might do. "Elf all my hair in knots."

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Etymology of 'Elf'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Elf" Quotes from Famous Books

... how grievously he had dreaded this child—the little black-haired elf that had seen him hiding. It had made him shiver to think of her—the small woodland demon, the devil's spy whose lisping treble might be distinct and loud enough to utter his death sentence. A thousand times ...

— The Devil's Garden • W. B. Maxwell

... "to while away the time till the bright moon goes down, let us each tell a tale, or relate what we have done or learned this day. I will begin with you, Sunny Lock," added she, turning to a lovely little Elf, who lay among the fragrant leaves ...

— Flower Fables • Louisa May Alcott

... did it your own self," cried the elf-mother shrilly, "what's the use o' making all this fash about it?"—and with that she stretched out a long thin arm, and caught the creature by its ear, and, shaking it roughly, pulled it after her, out of ...

— More English Fairy Tales • Various

... the moor was trackless; untrodden of man or dog it certainly was and seemed to have less to do with the ways of man than any waste I have seen, but the track the old shepherd showed me, if track it was, was no more than the track of a hare—an elf-path the old man called it, Heaven knows what he meant. And then before I left him he insisted on giving me his flask with the queer strong rum it contained. Whiskey brings out in some men melancholy, in some rejoicing, with him it was clearly generosity and he insisted until I took his rum, ...

— Tales of Wonder • Lord Dunsany

... might originate. Who can lie down on Elvir Hill without experiencing something of the sorcery of the place? Flee from Elvir Hill, young swain, or the maids of Elle will have power over you, and you will go elf-wild!—so say the Danes. I had unconsciously laid myself down upon haunted ground; and I am willing to imagine that what I then experienced was rather connected with the world of spirits and dreams than with what I actually saw and heard around ...

— Lavengro - The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest • George Borrow

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