ELF • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Elf

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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

... on the dress and general appearance of people they passed. Julian smiled, but with no genuine pleasure. As always, he did his best to lead the girl's thoughts away from their incessant object, hers, elf. ...

— The Unclassed • George Gissing

... laughed angrily; but when Henry held up the elf-bolt, and he saw its sharp point, he was shocked, and he saw horror in ...

— The Trial - or, More Links of the Daisy Chain • Charlotte M. Yonge

... Swinstead Abbey, a Ballad Chronicle of the Death of King John; The Three Knights of Camelott, a Fairy Tale; The Ballad of Delora, or the Passion of Andrea Como; Red Gelert, a Welsh Legend; Ben Capstan, a Ballad of the Night Watch; The Elf of the Woodlands, a Child's Story. Fcap. 8vo. elegantly printed and bound in cloth, 248 pages, only ...

— Notes and Queries, Issue No. 61, December 28, 1850 • Various

... a tryst of joy in that day's dawning For the foemen of Yngvi Frey, When the land-rulers guided the long-ships across the waste, And the sword-elf from the south-land Thrust the sea-steeds against ...

— The Sagas of Olaf Tryggvason and of Harald The Tyrant (Harald Haardraade) • Snorri Sturluson

... and tiny Maid, Who love the Fairies in the glade, Who see them in the tangled grass The Gnomes and Brownies, as they pass, Who hear the Sprites from Elf-land call Go, frolic with these Brownies small, And join these merry sporting Elves, But ever ...

— The Goblins' Christmas • Elizabeth Anderson

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