elf

plural elves · nonstandard plural elfs · alternative obsolete elve

1. Germanichuman sciencesA supernatural being or spirit associated with illness, mischief, and harmful or dangerous magical influence; in later Norse sources, sometimes divided into benevolent light elves (inhabiting Álfheimr) and malevolent dark elves.

   Every elf, and fairy sprite, Hop as light as bird from brier.

   c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]

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   […] if theyr children at any time vvere frowarde and vvanton, they would ſay to them that the Guelfe or the Gibeline came. VVhich vvords novve from them (as many thinge els) be come into our vſage, and for Guelfes and Gibelines, we ſay Elfes & Goblins.

   1579, E. K., “[Iune. Ægloga Sexta.] Glosse.”, in Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC, folio 25, recto

   The man whom heauens haue ordaynd to bee The ſpouſe of Britomart, is Arthegall: He wonneth in the land of Fayeree, Yet is no Fary borne, ne ſib at all To Elfes, but ſprong of ſeed terreſtriall, And whylome by falſe Faries ſtolne away, Whyles yet in infant cradle he did crall; Ne other to himſelfe is knowne this day, But that he by an Elfe was gotten of a Fay.

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 433

   Their Robbin-good-fellowes, Elfes, Fairies, Hobgoblins of our latter age, which idolatrous former daies and the fantasticall world of Greece ycleaped Fawnes, Satyres, Dryades & Hamadryades, did most of their merry prankes in the Night.

   1594, Tho[mas] Nashe, The Terrors of the Night or, A Discourse of Apparitions, London: […] Iohn Danter for William Iones, […]

   […] I had rather have a Child which my Wife ſhould bring me, though by another man, then to have a Changeling brought me by a company of Fairies, Elfs and Goblins: […]

   1649, ΕΙΚΩΝ Ἡ ΠΙΣΤΗ. Or, The Faithfull Pourtraicture of a Loyall Subject, in Vindication of ΕΙΚΏΝ ΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΉ. […], page 16

   The quarrel ſpreading into parties, called the Guelfs and the Gibellines, became at laſt the wonder and amazement of all good people: inſomuch as ſome are of opinion, that the fiction of the Elfs and Goblins, wherewith we uſe to fright young children, was derived from hence.

   1657, Peter Heylyn, Cosmographie in Four Books. Containing the Chorographie and Historie of the Whole World, and All the Principal Kingdoms, Provinces, Seas, and Isles Thereof., 2nd edition, London: […] Henry Seile, […], page 131

   Synonyms: goblin, fairy

2. artsA small, magical creature similar to a fairy, often mischievous, playful, or occasionally helpful.

   Farefolkis, fairies, elfs, or elves; […]

   1802, J[ames] Sibbald, “Glossary; or An Explanation of Ancient Scottish Words”, in Chronicle of Scottish Poetry; from the Thirteenth Century, to the Union of the Crowns: To Which Is Added a Glossary, volume IV, Edinburgh: […] [F]or J. Sibbald, […], [b]y C. Stewart & Co. […]

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   For there and ſeveral other places About mill dams and green brae faces, Both Elrich, Elfs and Brownies ſtayed, And Green gown’d Farries daunc’d and played; […]

   a. 1690, William Cleland, A Collection of Several Poems and Verses, Composed upon Various Occasions, published 1697, page 59

   IN Days of Old when Arthur fill’d the Throne, Whoſe Acts and Fame to Foreign Lands were blown; The King of Elfs and little Fairy Queen Gamboll’d on Heaths, and danc’d on ev’ry Green.

   1700, [John] Dryden, “The Wife of Bath Her Tale [by Geoffrey Chaucer]”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 479

   Prithee, young one, who art thou, and what has ailed thy mother to bedizen thee in this strange fashion? Art thou a Christian child,—ha? Dost know thy catechism? Or art thou one of those naughty elfs or fairies, whom we thought to have left behind us, with other relics of Papistry, in merry old England?

   1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Elf-Child and the Minister”, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC, page 130

   The next species of these airy nothings are the elfs, or elves; […]

   1852, William Bell, Shakespeare’s Puck, and His Folkslore, Illustrated from the Superstitions of All Nations, but More Especially from the Earliest Religion and Rites of Northern Europe and the Wends, London, page 58

   All the fairy tales of my childhood were conjured up before my startled imagination, and appeared to be realised in the forms which surrounded me; I saw the whole forest filled with trolls, elves, and sporting dwarfs.

   1881, P. Chr. Asbjörnsen [i.e., Peter Christen Asbjørnsen], “A Summer Night in a Norwegian Forest”, in H. L. Brækstad, transl., Round the Yule Log. Norwegian Folk and Fairy Tales, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, →OCLC, page 281

3. fantasyA member of a race of tall, slender, graceful beings with pointed ears, typically immortal or very long-lived and possessing wisdom and magical abilities.

   Fantasy elves have human shapes. They're thin. They're tall. They're beautiful. They're blond. They have pointy ears.

   2018, Virginia Loh-Hagan, Elves, Ann Arbor: 45th Parallel Press, page 9

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   Much of fairy lore clusters around the so-called fairy rings, that is, the green circles in old pastures within which the elfs were supposed to dance at night by the light of the moon.

   1889 May, “[Literary Notices.] The Folk-Lore of Plants. By T. F. Thiselton Dyer. […]”, in Popular Science, page 128, column 1

   He was not speaking troll-talk now, but the language of Elfland, that grander tongue that he had had to speak when he was before the King: for he knew the language of Elfland although it was never used in the homes of the trolls, who preferred troll-talk. This language was spoken in those days also by men, for there were fewer languages then, and the elves and the people of Erl both used the same.

   1924, Lord Dunsany, chapter VII, in The King of Elfland's Daughter, New York: G.P. Puttnam's Sons, page 59

   So they laughed and sang in the trees; and pretty fair nonsense I daresay you think it. Not that they would care; they would only laugh all the more if you told them so. They were elves of course. Soon Bilbo caught glimpses of them as the darkness deepened. He loved elves, though he seldom met them; but he was a little frightened of them too.

   1937 September 21, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “A Short Rest”, in The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again, revised edition, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published February 1966 (August 1967 printing), →OCLC, pages 58–59

4. abbreviationbroadlyellipsisEllipsis of Christmas elf.

   Since you’ve been out, the news arrives The Elfs’ Insurance Company’s gone.

   1877, Sidney Lanier, “The Hard Times in Elfland. A Story of Christmas Eve.”, in [Mary Lanier], editor, Poems of Sidney Lanier, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1884, page 159

5. obsoleteA very diminutive person; a dwarf.
6. South AfricaBluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix).

present singular third person elfs · participle present elfing · participle past elfed · past elfed · alternative obsolete elve

1. archaicTo twist into elflocks (of hair); to mat.

   My face I'll grime with filth, blanket my loins, elf all my hairs in knots, and with presented nakedness outface the winds and persecutions of the sky.

   c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)

plural elfs · alternative obsolete elve

1. PhilippinesAny small box truck or delivery truck, regardless of the actual brand.

   An elf truck fell into a ravine in the Mountain Province town of Bauko on Thursday night, killing a passenger and seriously injuring its driver.

   2015 February 27, Kimberlie Quitasol, “Truck falls into Mountain Province ravine; at least 1 killed”, in Inquirer.net

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   Seven people died while three others were seriously injured when an elf truck loaded with passengers who were supposed to attend a burial of a deceased relative in a nearby town allegedly suffered from mechanical trouble and plunged into a 10-meter deep ravine at sitio Montanop, Chalalo, here, Wednesday morning. Police Brig. Gen. Israel Efraim Dickson, regional director of the Police Regional Office (PRO) in the Cordillera, said that six of the occupants of the ill-fated elf truck that was driven by a certain Joey Tambiag allegedly died on the spot while one of the passengers died while undergoing close medical supervision at the Potia District Hospital. […] Initial police investigation showed that the Alfonso Lista-bound elf truck was supposed to ferry the occupants of the vehicle to the town proper to attend the burial of a deceased relative when the said truck encountered mechanical trouble that caused the driver to eventually lose control of the same until it plunged into the deep ravine.

   2019 July 24, Dexter A. See, “7 die, 3 hurt as elf truck plunges in Ifugao ravine”, in Baguio Herald Express

1. abbreviationacronymuncountablefile formatAcronym of Executable and Linking Format, a common object file format for Unix.

   In ELF executables, there aren't a whole lot of code caves (such as in the PE format), so you are not likely to be able to shove more than just a meager amount of shellcode into existing code slots […]

   2016, Ryan "elfmaster" O'Neill, Learning Linux Binary Analysis, page 97

2. abbreviationinitialismuncountablebusinessInitialism of extremely low frequency.
3. abbreviationacronymuncountablehuman sciencesAcronym of English as a lingua franca (“English used by non-native speakers”).

   The consequences of the massive volume of ELF to English taken as a whole, as the aggregate use of the language, is essentially a descriptive issue: what new features of English are emerging and taking hold?

   2012, Anna Mauranen, Exploring ELF: Academic English Shaped by Non-native Speakers, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 3

1. abbreviationinitialismInitialism of Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmentalism group.

   In the late 1990s, the ELF became notorious for setting fire to symbols of ecological destruction, including timber mills, an S.U.V. dealership and a ski resort.

   2022 May 26, Matthew Wolfe, “The Rise and Fall of America’s Environmentalist Underground”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

2. abbreviationinitialismInitialism of Elvish Linguistic Fellowship, an organization that studies the invented languages of J. R. R. Tolkien.
3. abbreviationinitialismInitialism of Endangered Language Fund, a non-profit organization.