1. [n]  a legendary creature resembling a tiny old man; lives in the depths of the earth and guards buried treasure
2. [n]  a person who is abnormally small
3. [adj]  atypically small; "dwarf tree"; "dwarf star"
4. [v]  cast a shadow

1. \Dwarf\, n.; pl. {Dwarfs}. [OE. dwergh, dwerf, dwarf, AS.
   dweorg, dweorh; akin to D. dwerg, MHG. twerc, G. zwerg, Icel.
   dvergr, Sw. & Dan. dverg; of unknown origin.]
   An animal or plant which is much below the ordinary size of
   its species or kind; especially, a diminutive human being.
   
   Note: During the Middle Ages dwarfs as well as fools shared
         the favor of courts and the nobility.
   
   Note: Dwarf is used adjectively in reference to anything much
         below the usual or normal size; as, dwarf tree; dwarf
         honeysuckle.
   
   {Dwarf elder} (Bot.), danewort.
   
   {Dwarf wall} (Arch.), a low wall, not as high as the story of
      a building, often used as a garden wall or fence. --Gwilt.
   
   

2. \Dwarf\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Dwarfed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Dwarfing}.]
   To hinder from growing to the natural size; to make or keep
   small; to stunt. --Addison.
   
         Even the most common moral ideas and affections . . .
         would be stunted and dwarfed, if cut off from a
         spiritual background.                    --J. C.
                                                  Shairp.
   
   

3. \Dwarf\, v. i.
   To become small; to diminish in size.
   
         Strange power of the world that, the moment we enter
         it, our great conceptions dwarf.         --Beaconsfield.
   
   

a lean or emaciated person (Lev. 21:20).