Pronunciations (2)
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/ɛlf/
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ɛlf
Noun
A 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.
Usage- Germanic
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More examples (3)
[…] 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.
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.
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.
Every elf, and fairy sprite, Hop as light as bird from brier.
More examples (3)
[…] 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: […]
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.
The opinion of Fairies and Elfs is very old, and yet ſticketh very religiously in the minds of ſome. But to root that rank opinion of Elfs out of mens hearts, the truth is, that there be no ſuch things, nor yet the ſhadows of the things, but only by a ſort of bald Friers and knaviſh ſhavelings ſo faigned; […]
This Juno heard; And ſhall ſuch Elfs, ſhe cry’d, Diſpute my Juſtice, or my Pow’r deride?
More examples (10)
[…]the Devaſtations under the Goths, Guelphs, and Gibelines [whence ſome would derive the Terms of Elfs (or Elves) or Fairies, and Goblins (or Hobgoblins) or Spectres, &c.] […]
Here in the interior the saga placed the descendants of the demons (Troll) and elves (Alfvar), more hateful than all other men.
These Picts are the Clan Alpin, the Alps, or Elfs or Elves,—[…]
The Arbhus became in Teutonic mythology the Alben, Elben or Elfen, our Elfs, and in Scandinavian the Alfar.
The elfs or elves were inhabitants of the fields and groves, the progenitors of the fairies of the middle ages; […]
Eve, Danish legend of her concealing her unwashed children, from whom come elfs, trolls, &c.
NAT,[…]; a term applied to all spiritual beings, angels, elfs, demons, or what not, including the gods of the Hindus.
Elfs and fays, from their haunts in the mountains, whistle their eerie ballads above the gray roof of “Dove Cottage,” and dance their ghostly jigs on the huge hearthstone, among whose blazing logs the Fire God paints his immortal canvases, with colorings splendid beyond the dream of man.
Alfs [elfs]: Another name for the elfs or elves.
Cain got no good from committing that murder because the Almighty made him anathema and out of the curse of his exile there sprang ogres and elves and evil phantoms[.]
A small, magical creature similar to a fairy, often mischievous, playful, or occasionally helpful.
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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; […]
More examples (1)
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.
Farefolkis, fairies, elfs, or elves; […]
More examples (4)
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?
The next species of these airy nothings are the elfs, or elves; […]
We may add, and our author has knowledge of the fact, that not even the Germans, those masterly delineators and imaginators of fairy-land, have shown greater or more exquisite insight into the lives and ways of elfs and fays than that which was shown by George Cruikshank.
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.
A member of a race of tall, slender, graceful beings with pointed ears, typically immortal or very long-lived and possessing wisdom and magical abilities.
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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.
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.
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.
Fantasy elves have human shapes. They're thin. They're tall. They're beautiful. They're blond. They have pointy ears.
A very diminutive person; a dwarf.
Usage- Obsolete
Bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix).
Usage- South-Africa
Verb
To twist into elflocks (of hair); to mat.
Usage- Archaic
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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.
Noun
(folklore) fairies that are somewhat mischievous