Elf
Elf (elf) , noun
[Anglo-Saxon alf, ylf; akin to Middle High German alp, German alp nightmare, incubus, Icelandic ālfr elf, Swedish alf, elfva; compare Sanskrit rbhu skillful, artful, rabh to grasp. Compare Auf, Oaf.]
1.
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.
2.
A very diminutive person; a dwarf.
Collocations (4)
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. — Brewer
Elf owl (Zoology) , a small owl (Micrathene Whitneyi) of Southern California and Arizona.
Elf , transitive verb
To entangle mischievously, as an elf might do.
Elf all my hair in knots.