Elf (&ebreve_;lf), n.; pl. Elves (&ebreve_;lvz). [AS. ælf, ylf; akin to MHG. alp, G. alp nightmare, incubus, Icel. ālfr elf, Sw. alf, elfva; cf. Skr. &rsdot_;bhu skillful, artful, rabh to grasp. Cf. 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.
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Every elf, and fairy sprite,
Hop as light as bird from brier. Shak.
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2. A very diminutive person; a dwarf.
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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 (Zoöl.), a small owl (Micrathene Whitneyi) of Southern California and Arizona.
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