little folkn.

1580 T. Crewe tr. G. Meurier Nosegay of Morall Philos. sig. B5 What is the cause that little folkes [Fr. petites gens] are sooner angry then the great?

1661 J. F. Rewards of Vertue iii. 48 Urania was a Shepherdess, and born In some low Cottage, 'mongst those little folks, whom Honour seldome visits.

1706 tr. J. B. Morvan de Bellegarde Refl. upon Ridicule 96 He scorns his Dignities and his Equals, and can endure nothing but little Folks.

1789 W. Hutton Descr. Blackpool 2 The Prince's frequent visits to Brighthelmstone crowd the place, and teach the inhabitants to despise little folks.

1825 Lady's Mag. May 256/2 Who can paint the cabal and the intrigue, the anxiety to get the great folk in, and to keep the little folk out.

1863 A. Trollope St. Olaves II. 4 Little folks like you an' me has to tew about and fend for 'em both.

1917 W. J. Locke Red Planet xvi. 216 In our daily meetings..we cried aloud for a great voice to awaken the little folk in Great Britain from their selfish lethargy.

1943 A. F. Raper Tenants of Almighty viii. xxxiii. 352 All the little folks and the big folks in it together now... I ain't got no money and I can't git it. You got money and you can't git it.

1989 J. Zvesper in R. C. Simmons U.S. Constit. iv. 53 This fear resulted not so much from the resentment of the ‘little folks’ as from the anticipation of the more comfortable..that their and their country's continued prosperity would be undermined.

2007 Independent 27 July 35/1 Recognising that an ordinary hero deserves as much social approbation as, say, a Whitehall jobsworth, Brown has floated the idea of gongs for little folk.

1676 E. Coles Eng. Dict. at Dandy-prats A small coyn made by Henry 7. also little folks.

1838 500 Curious & Interesting Narr. & Anecd. 66 They were surrounded and overpowered by a legion of little folks, of less stature than middle-sized men.

1897 Harper's Round Table 28 Sept. 1189/2 Usually the pygmies have been discovered most unexpectedly, the explorers stumbling upon..a crowd of the little folks without any previous intimation of them.

1913 E. Eggleston Ultimate Solution of Amer. Negro Probl. iii. 52 These curious little folks [sc. pygmies] were in high request at the courts of the Pharoahs in mediaeval times.

1953 Billboard 21 Mar. 58/1 A number of agents have been alerted to hunt for the little folks, and the managers of troupes might do well to study their contracts and lock the doors.

1985 Weekly World News 2 Apr. 1/1 (header) Little folks see red over new sport—dwarf tossing!

2012 R. Bogdan Picturing Disability 103/1 The Little Oscars and the Sunshine Bakers played the rather demeaning role of cute little folks, much like those who played the Munchkins in the popular Wizard of Oz movie.

1689 C. Mather Small Offers toward Service of Tabernacle sig. D4 Before your little Folks have left off living upon Milk, let them be so well versed in their Milk for Babes, that they may readily answer any Question there.

1702 C. Mather Diary 21 Nov. (1912) I. 447 I resigned my Study, for an Hospital to my little Folks, that are falling sick of a loathsome Disease.

1776 J. Adams in J. Adams & A. Adams Familiar Lett. (1876) 203 All that I could learn of you and my little folks... Do they suppose I have forgotten my wife and children?

1839 N.Y. Mirror 28 Dec. 216/1 Parents, neglect not your little folks at this season of the year.

1876 J. D. McCabe Illustr. Hist. Centennial Exhib. xi. 355 A crowd of delighted little folks is always gathered about the stand.

1919 Amer. Mag. Oct. 179/1 Now he saw them not as a driven mass, but as men and women, fathers and mothers of little folk.

1951 Life 25 June 1/3 (advt.) Helps mother keep little folks..radiantly clean and healthy.

1989 M. V. Jackson Engines of Instr., Mischief & Magic 210 The happy lilt of the tetrameter dactyls does contain a regularity that brings order to this diverting account of..little folks' versions of adult galas.

2013 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 11 Jan. c40 Something about the bold, brassy sound, coupled with the distinctive physicality involved in playing the instrument [sc. the trombone], never fails to mesmerize the little folks.

1791 R. Townley Jrnl. kept Isle of Man II. 89 There was a person in the house, not only well versed in the history of those little folks, but also a most sanguine believer in their actual existence as intelligent beings.

1831 W. Howells Cambrian Superstitions iv. 138 Going out early one morning.., he observed a posse of the little folks dancing.

1879 S. Perkins Honor Bright iv. 24 The little folk were too busy dancing fairy rings into the grass.

1922 A. Conan Doyle Coming of Fairies vi. 144 There are shepherds on the South Downs to this day who will throw a bit of their bread and cheese over their shoulders at dinner-time for the little folks to consume.

1963 Folklore 74 482 ‘Music Barrows’ on Binscombe Down and at Culliford Tree, from which music of the little folk is said to emerge.

1994 M. Heaney Over Nine Waves p. x They become variously known in folklore and legend as the People of the Sidhe, the Faery, the Little Folk or the Good People.

2001 Guardian (Nexis) 17 Mar. 6 There are many fairy trees in this part of Ireland, usually gnarled and twisted old hawthorns which local people refuse to disturb for fear of upsetting the ‘little folk’.