lilliputian

plural lilliputians · alternative Lilliputian

1. A very small person or being.

   I reflected what a Mortification it muſt prove to me to appear as inconſiderable in this Nation as one ſingle Lilliputian would be among us.

   1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “A Great Storm Described, the Long-Boat Sent to Fetch Water, the Author Goes with It to Discover the Country. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part II (A Voyage to Brobdingnag), page 158

2. biologyA fruit fly gene that, when mutated, makes cells abnormally small. See AFF2.
3. Involving delusions or hallucinations of tiny beings.

   lilliputian schizophrenia

comparative more lilliputian · superlative most lilliputian · alternative Lilliputian

1. Very small, diminutive

   —O'er the expanse Of glittering waters glides the snowy sail;— The lilliputian boat by infants mann'd, Steers amid fairy islets, circles round The indented shore,—...

   1827, Lydia Sigourney, Poems, A Thunder Storm, while Travelling, page 129

2. Trivial, petty

plural Lilliputians

1. alternativeAlternative form of lilliputian.

comparative more Lilliputian · superlative most Lilliputian

1. alternativeAlternative form of lilliputian.

   Its nasty sting backs up the warning, and in the case of the cow killer, additional warnings also come in the form of sound, a squeak of broad frequency range that resembles a miniature rattle of a Lilliputian rattlesnake, and an odorous chemical warning signal.

   2016, Justin O. Schmidt, The Sting of the Wild, Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, page 6f