The Collaborative International Dictionary
Elf \Elf\ ([e^]lf), n.; pl. Elves ([e^]lvz). [AS. [ae]lf, ylf; akin to MHG. alp, G. alp nightmare, incubus, Icel. [=a]lfr elf, Sw. alf, elfva; cf. Skr. [.r]bhu skillful, artful, rabh to grasp. Cf. Auf, Oaf.]
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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.
--Shak. -
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.
--Brewer.Elf owl (Zo["o]l.), a small owl ( Micrathene Whitneyi) of Southern California and Arizona.
Usage examples of "elf child".
Even so, she could do nothing but watch as the fierce elf child went down, clutching at the bright ribbon that a mercenary's sword had opened along the length of her fighting arm.
Shakti demanded, one finger thumping a sea-elf child imprisoned on the tapestry.
In that tapestry even an elf child could read the history of his people and know how in ancient days Silvanos gathered together all the tribes of elf-kind and imposed upon them an order, a structure of Houses that survived even to this day.
Zaknafein had nearly killed him for that wretched surface raid, until he had learned that Drizzt had not really partaken of the killings and had even deceived his companions and the Spider Queen herself by allowing the elf child to live.
How it had pained Drizzt those years before, when he had ventured through the Moonwood to happen upon Ellifain and her people, only to find the grown elf child out of her mind with rage and so obviously distorted.