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In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.
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1828 Noah Webster Dictionary
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1828.mshaffer.com › Word [elf]

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elf

ELF, n. plu. elves.

1. A wandering spirit; a fairy; a hobgoblin; an imaginary being which our rude ancestors supposed to inhabit unfrequented places, and in various ways to affect mankind. Hence in Scottish, elf-shot is an elf-arrow; an arrow-head of flint, supposed to be shot by elfs; and it signifies also a disease supposed to be produced by the agency of spirits.

Every elf, and fairy sprite,

Hope as light as bird from brier.

2. An evil spirit; a devil.

3. A diminutive person.

ELF, v.t. To entangle hair in so intricate a manner, that it cannot be disentangled. This work was formerly ascribed to elves.



Evolution (or devolution) of this word [elf]

1828 Webster1844 Webster1913 Webster

ELF, n. plu. elves.

1. A wandering spirit; a fairy; a hobgoblin; an imaginary being which our rude ancestors supposed to inhabit unfrequented places, and in various ways to affect mankind. Hence in Scottish, elf-shot is an elf-arrow; an arrow-head of flint, supposed to be shot by elfs; and it signifies also a disease supposed to be produced by the agency of spirits.

Every elf, and fairy sprite,

Hope as light as bird from brier.

2. An evil spirit; a devil.

3. A diminutive person.

ELF, v.t. To entangle hair in so intricate a manner, that it cannot be disentangled. This work was formerly ascribed to elves.


ELF, n. [plur. Elves. Sax. ælf, or elfenne, a spirit, the nightmar; a ghost, hag or witch; Sw. älfver. In W. el is a moving principle, a spirit; elv is the same; elu is to move onward, to go; elven is an operative cause, a constituent part, an element; and elf is what moves in a simple or pure state, a spirit or demon. From these facts it would seem that elf is from a verb signifying to move, to flow; and älf or elf in Swedish, elv in Danish, is a river, whence Elbe. So spirit is from blowing, a flowing, of air. In Sax. æl is oil and an eel, and ælan is to kindle; all perhaps from the sense of moving, flowing or shooting along. The elf seems to correspond to the demon of the Greeks.]

  1. A wandering spirit; a fairy; a hobgoblin; an imaginary being which our rude ancestors supposed to inhabit unfrequented places, and in various ways to affect mankind. Hence in Scottish, elf-shot is an elf-arrow; an arrow-head of flint, supposed to be shot by elfs; and it signifies also a disease supposed to be produced by the agency of spirits. Every elf, and fairy, sprite, / Hop as light as bird from brier. Shak.
  2. An evil spirit; a devil. Dryden.
  3. A diminutive person. Shenstone.

ELF, v.t.

To entangle hair in so intricate a manner, that it can not be disentangled. This work was formerly ascribed to elves. Johnson. Shak.


Elf
  1. An imaginary supernatural being, commonly a little sprite, much like a fairy; a mythological diminutive spirit, supposed to haunt hills and wild places, and generally represented as delighting in mischievous tricks.

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

  2. To entangle mischievously, as an elf might do.

    Elf all my hair in knots. Shak.

  3. A very diminutive person; a dwarf.

    Elf arrow, a flint arrowhead; -- so called by the English rural folk who often find these objects of prehistoric make in the fields and formerly attributed them to fairies; -- called also elf bolt, elf dart, and elf shot. -- Elf child, a child supposed to be left by elves, in room of one they had stolen. See Changeling. -- Elf fire, the ignis fatuus. Brewer. -- Elf owl (Zoöl.), a small owl (Micrathene Whitneyi) of Southern California and Arizona.

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Elf

ELF, noun plural elves.

1. A wandering spirit; a fairy; a hobgoblin; an imaginary being which our rude ancestors supposed to inhabit unfrequented places, and in various ways to affect mankind. Hence in Scottish, elf-shot is an elf-arrow; an arrow-head of flint, supposed to be shot by elfs; and it signifies also a disease supposed to be produced by the agency of spirits.

Every elf and fairy sprite,

Hope as light as bird from brier.

2. An evil spirit; a devil.

3. A diminutive person.

ELF, verb transitive To entangle hair in so intricate a manner, that it cannot be disentangled. This work was formerly ascribed to elves.

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Word of the Day

importance

IMPORT'ANCE, n.

1. Weight; consequence; a bearing on some interest; that quality of any thing by which it may affect a measure, interest or result. The education of youth is of great importance to a free government. A religious education is of infinite importance to every human being.

2. Weight or consequence in the scale of being.

Thy own importance know.

Nor bound thy narrow views to things below.

3. Weight or consequence in self-estimation.

He believes himself a man of importance.

4. Thing implied; matter; subject; importunity. [In these senses, obsolete.]

Random Word

reasonableness

RE'ASONABLENESS, n.

1. The faculty of reason. [In this sense, little used.]

2. Agreeableness to reason; that state or quality of a thing which reason supports or justifies; as the reasonableness of our wishes, demands or expectations.

the reasonableness and excellency of charity.

3. Conformity to rational principles.

The whole frame and contexture of a watch carries in it a reasonableness - the passive impression of the reason or intellectual idea that was in the artist. [Unusual.]

4. Moderation; as the reasonableness of a demand.

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Noah Webster, the Father of American Christian education, wrote the first American dictionary and established a system of rules to govern spelling, grammar, and reading. This master linguist understood the power of words, their definitions, and the need for precise word usage in communication to maintain independence. Webster used the Bible as the foundation for his definitions.

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1828 Noah Webster Dictionary

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