α. 1500s dwarfishe, 1500s dwarfyshe, 1600s dwarffish, 1600s– dwarfish.
β. 1600s dwaruish, 1600s 1900s– dwarvish Brit. 
/ˈdwɔːvɪʃ/, U.S. /ˈd(w)ɔrvɪʃ/.
dwarfishadj.n.
/ˈdwɔːfɪʃ/, U.S. /ˈd(w)ɔrfɪʃ/ A. adj.
1.
a. Of, resembling, or characteristic of a person with dwarfism; (also) designating such a person. More generally: of very small stature, diminutive. Often derogatory, and potentially offensive if used with reference to a person with dwarfism.In later use often influenced by sense A. 2, and some examples may alternatively be interpreted as showing the sense ‘resembling the dwarves of folklore, fantasy fiction, etc.’ (cf. dwarf n. 3).
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1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes ii. f. 222v The same grekes..made muche and great iestyng at the deformitee and bleamishes of Antigonus.., nowe at his dwarfyshe lowe stature, and nowe at his noose as flatte as a cake bruised or beaten to his face.
1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream iii. ii. 296 Are you growne so high in his esteeme, Because I am so dwarfish . View more context for this quotation
1667 H. Oldenburg in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 2 421 Another people, not far from these, Eastwardly, of a Dwarfish Stature.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth II. 219 A whole race of the dwarfish breed is often found to come down from the north.
1789 E. Butler Jrnl. 22 Apr. in E. M. Bell Hamwood Papers (1930) viii. 199 A little dwarfish man all in Tatters came to offer his service as a portrait painter.
1833 W. Hamilton Field Bk. 473/2 A miserable, dwarfish, red-bearded wretch,..yet he secures more seals than any hunter in the district.
1925 E. A. Powell Beyond Utmost Purple Rim xv. 376 The island was already inhabited by a dwarfish folk with light complexions.
1969 Jrnl. Hist. Med. 24 351 One of the commonplaces of criticism on Pope has been to ascribe his satirical temperament to his physical sufferings and his dwarfish stature.
2020 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 30 July 18 I worry that predatory single men, seeing this tall beauty [sc. the writer's wife] with her dwarfish husband, will think she's easy prey.
b. Of an animal, breed, or species, or (now esp.) a plant or plant variety: that is much smaller than the average of its kind; typical or characteristic of a dwarf plant or animal.In later use sometimes overlapping with A. 1d.
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1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 300 A dwarfish kind of hens,..that are extraordinarie little.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 29 In Ferraria amonge other strange beasts, they nourish dwaruish [1658 dwarvish] Asses.
1633 T. Johnson Gerard's Herball (new ed.) iii. xl. 1353 There is found another [sc. sort of pitch tree] that neuer growes high, but remaineth dwarfish.
1793 J. Leslie tr. Comte de Buffon Nat. Hist. Birds IV. 447 (heading) The dwarfish flycatchers [Fr. Les gobe-moucherons].
1852 Beck's Florist Aug. 183 It has a dwarfish habit, is a profuse bloomer.
1873 J. H. Beadle Undeveloped West xv. 256 Dwarfish oak, and arrow-wood disappear.
1899 Peach (Kansas State Horticultural Soc.) 58 A correspondent..in speaking of the Japan blood peach, says: ‘The tree is of a rather stocky, dwarfish growth.’
1918 A. E. Barr Orkney Maid iii. 60 Thora was..spinning..the marvellously fine threads of wool made from the dwarfish breed of Shetland sheep.
1922 Garden Bk. Spring 1922 (Sonderegger's Nurseries) 9/1 A native cherry of dwarfish habit, perfectly hardy everywhere in the Northwest and stands coldest winters without protection.
2012 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 16 June (Gardening section) 1 If you have a windy garden where tall varieties of broad beans are battered unless you stake them, this sturdy, dwarfish variety is a must.
c. figurative. Underdeveloped, inferior, insignificant. Now somewhat rare.
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1601 W. Cornwallis Ess. II. xxix. sig. Q2 [Estimation] in commanding respect euery where.., making the dwarffish feeble constitution of mann, whatsoeuer the eyes saith, figured by the mind, a most godly and most strong portraiture of Excellencie.
1607 T. Walkington Optick Glasse f. 15 What reason can be alleag'd that those who won vnder the pole, neare the frozen zone.., should haue such gyantly bodies and yet dwarfish wits.
1681 J. Dryden Spanish Fryar Ded. sig. A2v A dwarfish thought dress'd up in gigantick words.
1742 A. Ramsay Let. 18 Nov. in M. A. Forbes Curiosities Sc. Charta Chest (1897) ix. 146 Whose Dwarfish souls the dirtyest of vices leave no room for any humane or generous virtue.
1825 T. B. Macaulay Milton in Edinb. Rev. Aug. 337 The days..of dwarfish talents and gigantic vices.
1870 P. H. Chavasse Advice to Wife Managem. Health (ed. 9) 23 Many people on the Continent have a dread of water..: hence one reason why the ewers and basins are of such dwarfish proportions.
1999 Indonesia 67 4 Nations that have broken up because too many of its citizens have had shriveled hearts and dwarfish minds.
d. Of a thing: smaller than is usual or expected; (in early use) esp. of less than typical height; low, short, squat.
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1624 H. Wotton Elements Archit. 45 Pylasters, must not bee too tall and slender, least they resemble Pillars, nor too Dwarfish and grosse, least they imitate the Piles or Peeres of Bridges.
a1685 A. Killigrew Poems (1686) 6 Those who pass the Alps..when they come unto the last, They scorn the dwarfish Hills th'ave past.
1796 ‘Juvenis’ Village Muse 91 A long, long length of endless shadows fall From fanes, and forests, and the dwarfish wall.
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 117/1 The shrivelled, dwarfish, or damaged fruit—called by the street-traders the ‘specks’.
1861 Freeman's Jrnl. (Dublin) 28 June We behold in costly new churches low and dwarfish portals.
1927 J. Buchan Witch Wood iv. 71 Presently the scanty fruits of the earth were under cover, the bog hay in dwarfish ricks.
2001 Smarthouse Feb. 47/2 But don't be fooled into thinking that the dwarfish scale of this system logically equates to an equally minuscule sound.
2. In folklore, mythology, and now esp. fantasy fiction, games, etc.: of or relating to dwarves (dwarf n. 3), their realm, culture, or language; (also) of the nature such of a dwarf. Now chiefly in form dwarvish.Quot. 1770 probably shows use of sense A. 1 rather than this sense, but cf. quot. 1761 at dwarf n. 3, which is also from Thomas Percy's writings on folklore.Quot. 1781 is from a paraphrase of a passage from the Vǫluspá; the phrase dwarfish guardians reflects use of Old Icelandic dvergar (dwarfs) in the source.Depictions of dwarves in fantasy fiction, games, etc., after the mid-20th cent. have been heavily influenced by the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien concerning his fictional world of Middle Earth (see e.g. quot. 1937).
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1770 T. Percy tr. P. H. Mallet Northern Antiq. II. 48 Our author has..used the French word Fees, (i.e. Fairies) to signify, not the little imaginary dwarfish beings, to which we appropriate the word; but to express the Fates or Destinies.]
1781 T. J. Mathias Runic Odes 4 The dwarfish guardians of each cell Shriek around with fearful yell.
1847 I. A. Blackwell tr. in T. Percy et al. tr. P. H. Mallet Northern Antiq. (rev. ed.) 410 Modsognir, chief Of the dwarfish race, And Durin too, Were then created.
1882 Theatre June 360 This circumstance [sc. an abundance of steam during a production of Wagner's Ring] would seem to indicate a frequent recurrence of washing-day in the dwarfish realm, though Mime's linen leaves much to be desired in the way of cleanliness.
1916 W. C. Mackenzie Races of Ireland & Scotl. iv. 47 The traditions and legends of the Scandinavians were saturated..with stories of underground elves; dwarfish smiths who forged magic swords and spears..; impish trolls..; and fear-inspiring wizards.
1937 J. R. R. Tolkien Hobbit (1970) xiii. 219 The..glimpse of treasure..had rekindled all the fire of their dwarvish hearts; and when the heart of a dwarf..is wakened by gold and by jewels, he grows suddenly bold, and he may become fierce.
1980 Sunday Missoulian (Missoula, Montana) 7 Dec. 11/4 [With reference to the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons.] Right when you're about to wrest the Axe of the Dwarvish Lords from its underground vault, an owlbear lumbers in to squeeze the stuffings out of you.
1995 J. Rosenberg Road Home x. 230 A tiny village called Ekenden, an old Dwarvish word meaning, literally, ‘Nothing’.
2014 S. Morden Arcanum lxxv. 551 The box was..silver, finely made, carefully carved with dragon-things looping and out of their own coils, clearly dwarvish.
B. n.
1. With the. That which is dwarfish; dwarfish condition or quality. Also (and in earliest use) with plural agreement: those that are dwarfish; dwarf plants or animals; people with dwarfism, etc.
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1683 J. Reid Scots Gard'ner i. vi. 30 Make a whole Bed..of each kind, 6 Rowes in the Bed, the Dwarfish may be 8 Rowes: thus every thicket of them Flowering in their own order, will have a great shew.
1757 E. Burke Philos. Enq. Sublime & Beautiful iv. §21. 161 Besides the extraordinary great in every species, the opposite to this, the dwarfish and diminutive ought to be considered.
1867 Daily Post (Liverpool) 22 Apr. 7/3 The limping, the dwarfish, and the wry-necked have in some districts been admitted [to military service].
1887 W. M. Rossetti Life Keats ii. 25 Keats was an undersized man, in fact he was not far removed from the dwarfish, being barely more than five feet high.
1940 W. T. Keble Ceylon Beaten Track v. 66 Bestowing..goods on the priests and Brahmins, the blind, the lame, the dwarfish and the deformed, and other destitute and friendless people.
2009 Evening Standard (Nexis) 24 Apr. We should imagine three ideals regurgitated from Michelangelo, ranging from heroic grandeur to the dwarfish and grotesque, all histrionic and more than faintly ludicrous.
2. Usually in form Dwarvish. Chiefly in or with reference to fantasy fiction: the (fictional) language of dwarves (dwarf n. 3). Cf. sense A. 2.Originally with reference to the fragmentary language created by J. R. R. Tolkien; cf. note at sense A. 2.
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1954 J. R. R. Tolkien Let. 25 Apr. (1995) 175 Except for a few scraps in the Black Speech of Mordor, and a few names and a battle-cry in Dwarvish, these are almost entirely Elvish.
1988 S. Gilluly Crystal Keep xxiv. 342 He began to chant above the storm, ancient words of dwarvish used now only for calming weather.
2014 S. Morden Arcanum lxxiv. 549 She examined the vellum... Most of it was legible, despite the smears and deletions, if only she could read Dwarvish.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2022).
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adj.n.1542