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ELF
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
Irregular inflected form: elves
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Below 3 kilohertz
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("ELF" is a kind of...):
radio frequency (an electromagnetic wave frequency between audio and infrared)
Holonyms ("ELF" is a part of...):
electromagnetic spectrum (the entire frequency range of electromagnetic waves)
Sense 2
Meaning:
(folklore) fairies that are somewhat mischievous
Synonyms:
brownie; elf; gremlin; hob; imp; pixie; pixy
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("elf" is a kind of...):
faerie; faery; fairy; fay; sprite (a small being, human in form, playful and having magical powers)
Domain category:
folklore (the unwritten lore (stories and proverbs and riddles and songs) of a culture)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "elf"):
leprechaun (a mischievous elf in Irish folklore)
sandman (an elf in fairy stories who sprinkles sand in children's eyes to make them sleepy)
Context examples:
It looked all brown and black: elf- locks bristled out from beneath a white band which passed under her chin, and came half over her cheeks, or rather jaws: her eye confronted me at once, with a bold and direct gaze.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
He continued to send for me punctually the moment the clock struck seven; though when I appeared before him now, he had no such honeyed terms as love and darling on his lips: the best words at my service were provoking puppet, malicious elf, sprite, changeling, &c.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
I considered it a narrative of facts, and discovered in it a vein of interest deeper than what I found in fairy tales: for as to the elves, having sought them in vain among foxglove leaves and bells, under mushrooms and beneath the ground-ivy mantling old wall-nooks, I had at length made up my mind to the sad truth, that they were all gone out of England to some savage country where the woods were wilder and thicker, and the population more scant; whereas, Lilliput and Brobdignag being, in my creed, solid parts of the earth's surface, I doubted not that I might one day, by taking a long voyage, see with my own eyes the little fields, houses, and trees, the diminutive people, the tiny cows, sheep, and birds of the one realm; and the corn-fields forest-high, the mighty mastiffs, the monster cats, the tower-like men and women, of the other.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
