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Hobbit vs Dwarf - What's the difference?

hobbit | dwarf |

As nouns the difference between hobbit and dwarf

is that hobbit is a fictional race of small humanoids with shaggy hair and hairy feet while dwarf is any member of a race of beings from (especially Scandinavian and other Germanic) folklore, usually depicted as having some sort of supernatural powers and being skilled in crafting and metalworking, often depicted as short, and sometimes depicted as clashing with elves.

As an adjective dwarf is

miniature.

As a verb dwarf is

to render (much) smaller, turn into a dwarf (version).

hobbit

English

(Encyclopedic etymology) (wikipedia hobbit)

Etymology 1

The word hobbit has an unknown origin. However, as designating a diminutive legendary creature, it fits seamlessly into a category of English words in hob- for such beings. The Middle English word hobbe has manifested in many creatures of folklore as the prefix hob-. Related words are : hob, hobby, hobgoblin, Hobberdy Dick, Hobberdy, Hobbaty, hobbidy, Hobley, hobbledehoy, hobble, hobi, hobyn (small horse), hobby horse (perhaps from Hobin), Hobin (variant of the name Robin), Hobby (nickname for Robert), hobyah, Hob Lantern. The only source known today that makes reference to hobbits in any sort of historical context is the Denham Tracts by Michael Aislabie Denham. More specifically, it appears in the Denham Tracts, edited by James Hardy, (London: Folklore Society, 1895), vol. 2, the second part of a two-volume set compiled from Denham's publications between 1846 and 1859. The text contains a long list of sprites and bogies, based on an older list, the Discovery of Witchcraft, dated 1584, with many additions and a few repetitions. The term hobbit is listed in the context of boggleboes, bogies, redmen, portunes, grants, hobbits, hobgoblins, brown-men, cowies, dunnies. The most famous use comes from in 1937, featuring in the novels The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. Ostensibly from a hypothetical (etyl) ''*holbytla "hole-builder".

Noun

(en noun)
  • A fictional race of small humanoids with shaggy hair and hairy feet.
  • * 2008 , , Falling Sideways , Orbit books, ISBN 1-84149-110-1, p. 3:
    • It was his thirty-third birthday and already he had a little round tummy like a hobbit
  • An extinct species of hominin, Homo floresiensis , with a short body and relatively small brain, fossils of which have been recovered from the Indonesian island of Flores.
  • * 2007 September 20, Christopher Joyce, “Case Grows for ‘Hobbit’ as Human Ancestor”, All Things Considered , National Public Radio:
    • Although partial remains of other Hobbits have surfaced at the same site, they say it could have been an isolated colony of inbred people who shared the same genetic abnormalities.
  • * 2011 , (Chris Stringer), The Origin of Our Species , Penguin 2012, p. 215:
    • And in the island regions of southeast Asia, where the descendants of erectus , and the Hobbit , and any similar relict populations lived, climate changes would have greatly disrupted connections between regions and populations, as sea levels rose and fell by 100 metres or more.

    See also

    * halfling

    Etymology 2

    Probably from hoppet, hobbet, (a basket).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A Welsh unit of weight, equal to four Welsh pecks, or 168 pounds
  • (archaic) An old unit of volume (2½ bushels, the volume of 168 pounds of wheat).
    • ----

    dwarf

    English

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • (mythology) Any member of a race of beings from (especially Scandinavian and other Germanic) folklore, usually depicted as having some sort of supernatural powers and being skilled in crafting and metalworking, often depicted as short, and sometimes depicted as clashing with elves.
  • A person of short stature, often one whose limbs are disproportionately small in relation to the body as compared with normal adults, usually as the result of a genetic condition.
  • An animal, plant or other thing much smaller than the usual of its sort.
    • dwarf''' tree; '''dwarf honeysuckle
  • (star) A star of relatively small size.

    • Usage notes

    At first, dwarfs'' was the more common plural in English. After used ''dwarves'', it began to rise in popularity, and is now about as common as ''dwarfs .

    Synonyms

    * (person) midget, pygmy (imprecise)

    Antonyms

    * giant * ettin

    Derived terms

    (term derived from dwarf) * dwarf star * black dwarf * brown dwarf * red dwarf * white dwarf * dwarfen, dwarven * dwarfess * dwarfify * dwarfism * dwarfish, dwarvish * dwarfling * dwarfness

    Adjective

    (-)
  • .
    • The specimen is a very dwarf form of the plant.
    It is possible to grow the plants as dwarf as one desires.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To render (much) smaller, turn into a dwarf (version).
  • To make appear (much) smaller, puny, tiny.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author=Kevin Heng
    • , title= Why Does Nature Form Exoplanets Easily? , volume=101, issue=3, page=184, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=In the past two years, NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has located nearly 3,000 exoplanet candidates ranging from sub-Earth-sized minions to gas giants that dwarf our own Jupiter.}}
  • To make appear insignificant.
  • To become (much) smaller.
  • To hinder from growing to the natural size; to make or keep small; to stunt.
    • (Addison)
  • * J. C. Shairp
    • Even the most common moral ideas and affections would be stunted and dwarfed , if cut off from a spiritual background.

    Synonyms

    * (make much smaller) miniaturize, shrink * (become much smaller) shrink