different between dwarf vs toy

English

Etymology

From Middle English dwerf, dwergh, dwerw, dwer?, from Old English dweorh, dweorg (“dwarf”), from Proto-West Germanic *dwerg, from Proto-Germanic *dwergaz.

Cognate with Scots dwerch; Old High German twerc (German Zwerg); Old Norse dvergr (Swedish dvärg); Old Frisian dwirg (West Frisian dwerch); Middle Low German dwerch, dwarch, twerg (German Low German Dwarg, Dwarch); Middle Dutch dwerch, dworch (Dutch dwerg).

The Modern English noun has undergone complex phonetic changes. The form dwarf is the regular continuation of Old English dweorg, but the plural dweorgas would have given rise to dwarrows and the oblique stem dweorge- would have led to dwery. These forms are sometimes found as the nominative singular in Middle English texts and in English dialects. A parallel case is that of Old English burg giving burgh, borough, burrow, bury.

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: dwôrf, IPA^(key): /dw??f/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dw??f/
• Rhymes: -??(?)f

Noun

dwarf (plural dwarfs or dwarves)

1. (mythology) Any member of a race of beings from (especially Scandinavian and other Germanic) folklore, usually depicted as having some sort of supernatural powers and being skilled in crafting and metalworking, often as short with long beards, and sometimes as clashing with elves.
2. (now often offensive) A person of short stature, often one whose limbs are disproportionately small in relation to the body as compared with normal adults, usually as the result of a genetic condition.

   Synonyms: midget, pygmy (imprecise)

   Antonyms: ettin, giant

3. An animal, plant or other thing much smaller than the usual of its sort.

   Synonym: runt

4. (astronomy) A star of relatively small size.

Usage notes

At first, dwarfs was the common plural in English. After J. R. R. Tolkien used dwarves in his works, that form became the standard for the plural of the mythological beings. For a non-mythological dwarf (people with dwarfism, small plants, animals, planets, stars, etc.), dwarfs has remained the preferred plural form. The use of dwarf to describe people with short statures is presently considered to be offensive.

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

dwarf (comparative dwarfer, superlative dwarfest)

1. (especially in botany) Miniature.

Translations

Verb

dwarf (third-person singular simple present dwarfs, present participle dwarfing, simple past and past participle dwarfed)

1. (transitive) To render (much) smaller, turn into a dwarf (version).

   Synonyms: miniaturize, shrink

2. (transitive) To make appear (much) smaller, puny, tiny.
3. (transitive) To make appear insignificant.

   Synonyms: eclipse, overshadow, outshadow, outshine, outdo, put to shame, upstage, surpass, outmatch, outstrip

4. (intransitive) To become (much) smaller.

   Synonym: shrink

5. To hinder from growing to the natural size; to make or keep small; to stunt.

   • At present the whole sex is in a manner dwarfed and shrunk - into a race of beauties that seems almost another species

   • 1881, John Campbell Shairp, Aspects of Poetry

Translations

Further reading

• Dwarf on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

English

Etymology

From Middle English toye (“amorous play, piece of fun or entertainment”), probably from Middle Dutch toy, tuyg (“tools, apparatus, utensil, ornament”) as in Dutch speel-tuig (“play-thing, toy”), from Old Dutch *tiug, from Proto-Germanic *teug? (“stuff, matter, device, gear, lever”, literally “that which is drawn or pulled”), from Proto-Germanic *teuhan? (“to lead, bring, pull”), from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to pull, lead”). Cognate with German Spielzeug (“toy”), Danish legetøj (“play-thing, toy”). Related to tug, tow.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t??/
• Rhymes: -??

Noun

toy (plural toys)

1. Something to play with, especially as intended for use by a child. [from 16th c.]

2. A thing of little importance or value; a trifle. [from 16th c.]

   • he had deflowered the abbess, and as many besides of the nuns as he could, and leaves him withal rings, jewels, girdles, and such toys to give them still, when they came to visit him.

3. A simple, light piece of music, written especially for the virginal. [16th-17th c.]
4. (obsolete) Love play, amorous dalliance; fondling. [16th-18th c.]
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.i:

     Then seemed him his Lady by him lay, / And to him playnd, how that false winged boy, / Her chast hart had subdewd, to learne Dame pleasures toy.

5. (obsolete) A vague fancy, a ridiculous idea or notion; a whim. [16th-17th c.]
   • , vol.1, III.i.2:

     Though they do talk with you, and seem to be otherwise employed, and to your thinking very intent and busy, still that toy runs in their mind, that fear, that suspicion, that abuse, that jealousy […].

   • What if a toy take 'em i'th' heels now, and they all run away.

   • Nor light and idle toys my lines may vainly swell.

6. (slang, derogatory) An inferior graffiti artist.
   • 2009, Gregory J. Snyder, Graffiti Lives: Beyond the Tag in New York's Urban Underground (page 40)

     It is incorrect to say that toys tag and masters piece; toys just do bad tags, bad throw-ups, and bad pieces.

   • 2011, Adam Melnyk, Visual Orgasm: The Early Years of Canadian Graffiti (page 45)

     I was a toy until I met Sear, who moved here from Toronto and showed me the book Subway Art.

7. (obsolete) An old story; a silly tale.
8. (Scotland, archaic) A headdress of linen or wool that hangs down over the shoulders, worn by old women of the lower classes; called also toy mutch.
9. A sex toy (object or device to give sexual pleasure).

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:toy

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

toy (third-person singular simple present toys, present participle toying, simple past and past participle toyed)

1. (intransitive) To play (with) in an idle or desultory way.
2. (intransitive) To ponder or consider.

3. (slang, transitive) To stimulate with a sex toy.
   • 2013, Jonathan Everest, Lady Loverly's Chattel

     He could see her hand go to her slit, and soon she was toying herself along, breathing heavily.

Translations

See also

• game

Anagrams

• Tyo, yot

Azerbaijani

Etymology

From Proto-Turkic *toy (“feast”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /toj/

Noun

toy (definite accusative toyu, plural toylar)

1. wedding

Declension

Crimean Tatar

Noun

toy

1. wedding feast
2. banquet

Faroese

Etymology

From Danish tøj, from Middle Low German tüg.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t??i?/, /t?œi?/

Noun

toy n (genitive singular toys, uncountable)

1. fabric

Declension

Middle French

Alternative forms

• toi

Pronoun

toy

1. (in the singular, less formal) you

Synonyms

• (plural or polite singular): vous

Related terms

• te
• tu

Turkish

Etymology 1

From Ottoman Turkish ????, attested in Turkic from the 11th century.

Adjective

toy

1. immature, naive

Etymology 2

Noun

toy (definite accusative toyu, plural toylar)

1. great bustard; Otis tarda

See also

• tay

References

• Ni?anyan, Sevan (2002–) , “toy1”, in Ni?anyan Sözlük
• Redhouse, James W. (1890) , “???”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon, Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1264

Uzbek

Noun

toy (plural toylar)

1. foal