midgetn.adj.

Brit.

/ˈmɪdʒᵻt/, U.S.

/ˈmɪdʒᵻt/

Forms: 1800s mitchet (U.S.), 1800s– midget.

Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: midge n., -et suffix¹.

Etymology: < midge n. + -et suffix¹.The form mitchet in sense A. 2 represents a colloquial United States pronunciation.

A. n.

1. Originally English regional (south-western).

a. A thing that is very small, or conspicuously smaller than is usual or expected, or in comparison to something else.

ΚΠ

1802 ‘P. Pindar’ Middlesex Election: Pt. II v. 26 With your good leave, I'll zet bevore ye, My Lord, a midget of a story Of Farmer Tab, my neighbour.

1864 S. S. Robbins Faithful & True iii. 56 If you'll let me stay, Mr. Evans, we will soon know head from tail, all over this midget of a house.

1940 Amer. Boy Feb. 25/1 (advt.) Our Dandy packet includes all these: Giant Map Stamp (world's biggest), Fiume (dead country), Liberia (Bongo Antelope),..tiny Medellin ‘Midget’ (dwarf Stamp), antique Portugal (60 years old).

1958 A. Wainwright in Wainwright's TV Walks (2007) Helm Crag 5 Here on the top of little Helm Crag, a midget of a mountain,..a remarkable array of rocks..yield a quality of reward out of all proportion to the short and simple climb.

1991 Chile Pepper June 15/2 Old Minorcan and Spanish recipes..have been greatly influenced by this mighty midget, the Datil pepper.

2020 T. Wu Curse of Bigness (e-book ed.) v IBM was a mere midget compared to AT&T.., then the largest firm in the world, and the unquestioned monopolist of American communications.

†b. A (very) small piece; a fragment, a scrap. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

1865 T. Garland List Words Common Use W. Cornwall in Jrnl. Royal Inst. Cornwall Apr. 50 Midget.., a mite.

1880 M. A. Courtney W. Cornwall Words in M. A. Courtney & T. Q. Couch Gloss. Words Cornwall 37/2 Midget, a very small bit; a scrap.

1882 F. W. P. Jago Anc. Lang. & Dial. Cornwall 218 218 Midgets, or midjans, small pieces, or bits.

2. North American. A very small fly; esp. a biting midge (family Ceratopogonidae). Now rare.Cf. no-see-um n., punkie n.¹

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Diptera or flies > [noun] > member of

flyc1000

midget1815

dipter1828

midge1839

1815 H. C. Knight Broken Harp 73 I've see him [sc. a fairy]..Make minnow-hooks of spinner's shin, Of spider's films a midget-gin; Fetter the fetlock of a fly, Or noose on his proboscis tie.

1844 Farmer's Monthly Visitor 31 Aug. 128/2 The cause of must is the collection of midgets and other insects entering them [sc. casks and barrels] after they are emptied of cider.

1860 A. B. Street Woods & Waters viii. 83 ‘Whew, the flies is comin',’ said Corey. ‘How quick they smell a feller out! Plague take these mitchets; but we'll fix'em, skeeters and all!’

1933 F. H. Cheley Camping Out 423 The ‘punkeys’ and ‘midgets’ can outstrip them [sc. mosquitoes] for ferocity and the painful character of the wound which they inflict.

2008 C. Pelletier in W. McNair Place called Maine 180 No-see-ums that we called midgets, but are really midges.

a. Chiefly U.S. A (young) child. Now somewhat rare.

ΚΠ

1854 H. B. Stowe Sunny Memories Foreign Lands II. 150 Here six or eight midgets were jumping the rope, while papa and mamma swung it for them.

1918 W. M. Kirkland Joys of being Woman xvi. 189 The little girl felt sleepy very early here on the farm—she that was such a sleepless midget at home.

1947 Amer. Weekly 23 Mar. 14/2 [The babysitter] knew if she showed fright her mischievous midget would scoot in the wrong direction. So she quietly talked to him and persuaded him to crawl back.

2014 @PeterWheldon 3 July in twitter.com (accessed 7 Oct. 2021) Daddy is cooking..dinner while Super Mum reads the midgets a story.

b. A person who is (very) small or short; spec. a person who is unusually short in stature as a result of a genetic, medical, or environmental condition or process causing dwarfism. Now often derogatory in general use and considered offensive when applied to a person with dwarfism.Midget has never been a widely accepted technical term in medicine, but it has often been used (in general and occasionally in scientific contexts) as a specific term for a person affected by proportionate dwarfism (proportionate dwarfism n. at proportionate adj. Compounds); see e.g. quots. 1931, 1967.Often (esp. in the 19th and earlier 20th centuries) used with reference to people with dwarfism working as circus, theatre, or film performers.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > the body > bodily height > shortness > [noun] > person

dwarfeOE

congeonc1230

go-by-ground?a1300

smalla1300

shrimpc1386

griga1400

gruba1400

murche1440

nirvil1440

mitinga1450

witherling1528

wretchocka1529

elf1530

hop-o'-my-thumb1530

pygmy1533

little person1538

manikin1540

mankin1552

dandiprat1556

yrle1568

grundy1570

Jack Sprat1570

squall1570

manling1573

Tom Thumb1579

pinka1585

squib1586

screaling1594

giant-dwarf1598

twattle1598

agate1600

minimus1600

cock sparrow1602

dapperling1611

modicum1611

scrub1611

sesquipedalian1615

dwarflinga1618

wretchcock1641

homuncio1643

whip-handle1653

homuncule1656

whippersnapper1674

chitterling1675

sprite1684

carliea1689

urling1691

wirling1691

dwarf man1699

poppet1699

durgan1706

short-arse1706

tomtit1706

Lilliputian1726

wallydraigle1736

midge1757

minikin1761

squeeze-crab1785

minimum1796

niff-naff1808

titman1818

teetotum1822

squita1825

cradden1825

nyaff1825

weed1825

pinkeen1850

fingerling1864

Lilliput1867

thumbling1867

midget1869

inch1884

shorty1888

titch1888

skimpling1890

stub1890

scrap1898

pygmoid1922

lofty1933

peewee1935

smidgen1952

pint-size1954

pint-sized1973

munchkin1974

1869 H. B. Stowe Oldtown Folks xvi. 177 Now you know Parson Kendall's a little midget of a man.

1876 Boston Daily Globe 23 Dec. 9/4 The wonderful midgets, General Mite and Miss Zarate, continue to attract delighted audiences... Their performances are much more interesting in character than those of most of the ‘little people’.

1903 Rev. of Reviews Apr. 347 The undersized midgets of new recruits.

1931 Toledo (Ohio) News-Bee 6 Jan. 8/1 Midgets are not dwarfs. Midgets are perfectly proportioned. Dwarfs are not, and midgets are touchy about being called dwarfs.

1939 St. Nicholas Aug. 37/3 Nearly all the midgets in the United States, 116, were recruited..to play the Munchkins.

1967 Sci. Amer. July 103/1 Physicians refer to any very short person as a dwarf, but in common usage a distinction is drawn between midgets and dwarfs. A midget is a short person whose proportions are normal or nearly so and a dwarf is someone whose proportions are abnormal.

1977 Bay Area Reporter 1 Sept. 32/2 At 5′6″ (‘I'm a midget; I wear skates cause it puts me at 5′8″!’) he's young, ambitious, and tall in talent if short on patience.

1997 B. Paskin Dudley Moore xxix. 427 ‘Where are my cigarettes you fucking little midget!’ she screamed.

2014 @davbentley 4 Mar. in twitter.com (accessed 8 Oct. 2021) Everyone wanting to end the ‘N’ word and the ‘R’ word. Let's add the ‘M’ word to that list! I'm a dwarf, not a midget!

c. figurative. With preceding adjective. A person who is notably deficient in the specified quality, ability, etc. Cf. pygmy n. 2b.

ΚΠ

1906 Cannock Chase Courier 15 Aug. The priestly bogies..that have produced so many spiritual dwarfs, moral midgets, and mental pigmies, and stamped out human progress for a thousand centuries.

1917 A. Cahan Rise of David Levinsky ix. xii. 270 There were several circumstances that made it possible for a financial midget like myself to outbid the lions of the cloak-and-suit industry.

1970 J. P. Spradley You owe yourself a Drunk 22 I must be a..mental midget or just a nut.

1993 A. Dacyczyn Tightwad Gaz. ii. 21/2 I, the greatest mathematical midget of all time, have to work out how to compare.

2013 @JoyTruth 16 Mar. in twitter.com (accessed 15 Oct. 2021) I am so often stunned by the number of emotional and intellectual midgets that I have become acquainted with over time!

4. Something (esp. a vehicle, ship, or aircraft) designed or made in a smaller size than usual; spec. a small, single-seat racing car; (also) a model of compact two-seater sports car. Also in earliest use: †(a trade name for) a very small photographic portrait (obsolete).

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > [noun] > small or light

accelerator1861

midget1897

jigger1904

1897 A. Beardsley Let. ?10 Mar. (1971) 272 I look forward to seeing your photograph... Mother's midgets came out rather well.

1909 Fortn. Rev. 2 Aug. 269 If instead of Dreadnoughts we had built ‘Midgets’, ships of 5,000 tons, and Germany had followed our example, it would still be necessary for us to maintain our lead in Midgets.

1916 Fresno (Calif.) Morning Herald 3 Nov. 15/7 Expect fifteen Midgets in automobile races at fair grounds... A Midget automobile race will be pulled off Sunday, November 12.

1933 M. Arlen Man's Mortality ii. 32 He climbed into the midget [sc. an aircraft], and called out to the cadet: ‘Altitude?’

1968 Compl. Encycl. Motorcars 386 The little fabric-bodied, pointed-tail two-seater M-type M.G. Midget of 1929..was Britain's first really cheap..sports car.

1978 Internat. Countermeasures Handbk. 1978–79 (EW Communications Inc) 223/2 Midget—Two-seat trainer variant of the MiG-15 FAGOT [aeroplane]. Introduced in 1951 and now considered obsolete.

2002 Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) 1 May 3 c/2 We can put the 4-cylinder midgets and V-8 sprint cars out there [i.e. on the speedway track] and the fans can tell the difference.

B. adj. (chiefly attributive).

1. Originally English regional (south-western). Very small, tiny; designed or made in a smaller size than usual; spec. (chiefly U.S.) designating a small, single-seat racing car, now typically one with a four-cylinder engine.See also midget submarine n. at Compounds.

ΚΠ

1865 T. Garland List Words Common Use W. Cornwall in Jrnl. Royal Inst. Cornwall Apr. 50 Midget, very small.

1881 Engineering July 702 A midget motor.—A little curiosity in engineering... This is in all probability the smallest steam engine in the world, for it is almost microscopic in its dimensions.

1888 Lady 25 Oct. 374/3 A smaller frame, screen shape,..to hold six ‘midget’ photographs.

1916 Fresno (Calif.) Morning Republican 3 Nov. 15/7 A Midget automobile race will be pulled off Sunday, November 12... Max Friedman..had already secured the entry of six of the fast little Midget automobiles. Art Smith, aviator, has entered his Midget cars.

1933 Modesto News-Herald 1 July 1/5 A series of events for speedy, midget racing cars at the Modesto Junior College field.

1934 Discovery Nov. 324/2 The combined radio-gramophone and deaf-aid..includes..three midget valves.

1942 Hutchinson's Pict. Hist. War 18 Mar.–9 June 26 (caption) One of the Royal Navy's midget war ships, a motor gun-boat, on patrol duty round the coasts of Britain.

1953 D. Thomas Let. 16 Feb. (1987) 870 Since the disasters, big and midget, I mentioned some time ago,..I've got unknotted.

1969 Britannica Bk. of Year 1968 801/1 Sprint car, a rugged racing automobile that is midway in size between midget racers and ordinary racers.

1991 Amer. Cinematographer Sept. 83/1 It gave us just enough power to run two tweenies and one midget light.

2003 W. Ely Dorney Park vii. 73 The track had been built for midget racing cars, and a major improvement in the safety fence was needed to run stock cars.

a. Of a person: (very) small or short; spec. (now offensive) unusually short due to a genetic or medical condition causing dwarfism. Now often derogatory in general use and likely to be considered offensive when applied to a person with dwarfism.In quot. 1875 in the name of a group of acrobats, probably children (cf. A. 3a).

ΚΠ

1875 Morning Post 6 Aug. 1/4 (advt.) Crystal Palace.—This day. Blondin, the Midget Hanlons, &c.

1891 News & Observer (Raleigh, N. Carolina) 29 Apr. Yesterday, a midget girl, only 32 inches high, was married to..a man 6 feet 1 inch high.

1930 Sunday Pict. 9 Mar. 28/3 That elusive Scottish midget winger, Bobby Archibald. There is only 5ft. 4in. of Archibald, but he is full of all the tricks of the game.

1957 J. Kerouac On the Road i. x. 58 The little midget newspaper-selling woman.

2001 Straits Times (Singapore) 22 Feb. (Life! section) l4 A true story about a midget woman who defied social conventions and parental objections to become a well-known Hokkien opera actress in the 1960s.

b. Designating a dwarf breed or specimen of an animal or a variety of plant.

ΚΠ

1880 Middletown (N.Y.) Daily Argus 17 July (advt.) ‘A midget horse’, the smallest in the world. Perfect in every respect. Only 24 inches in heighth [sic], and weighing less than one hundred pounds.

1884 Gardeners' Chron. 8 Mar. 302/2 (advt.) Dwarf midget varieties, producing flowers of brilliant and distinct un-Dahlia-like colours and shapes.

1932 Pop. Mech. Oct. 559/2 When a midget horse was brought into a San Francisco blacksmith's shop, it was discovered that there were no shoes small enough to fit it.

1973 B. Marsh If your Rhubarb is Backward, bend it Forward vii. 96 A mixing of midget conifers with early spring bulbs is one of the optimum combinations..for a rockery.

2011 Equine June 28/1 When I was a small child.., I remember from time to time seeing the occasional small or midget pony that would measure under 38″.

3. figurative. Underdeveloped; weak, inferior, or insignificant in extent, character, quality, etc.; puny.

ΚΠ

1879 Times (Philadelphia) 12 Oct. 7/4 In the Baptist Association..there were some midget souls who loathed to extend Christian fellowship to a brother who would commune with a Universalist and worship with a Jew.

1908 Daily Chron. 7 Aug. 4/4 The spiritual intelligences..must..laugh at our serious midget efforts to comprehend and explain the circumambient infinite.

1955 Motive Nov. 21/3 We refuse to be manacled by midget minds whether socialist or capitalist or cooperative, or what not.

2003 L. Shriver We need to talk about Kevin (2006) 289 ‘In your dreams,’ said Kevin. ‘You wanna turn this into a Harlequin romance, that's your midget imagination, not mine.’

4. North American (chiefly Canadian). Designating a level of amateur sport typically involving players aged 16 or 17.

ΚΠ

1918 Manitoba Free Press 4 Dec. 13/5 The Free Press Midget hockey team has been organized with the following officers: [etc.].

1930 Roblin (Manitoba) Rev. 2 Jan. 1/4 Kamsack and Roblin Midget hockey team played to a 2-2 game after ten minutes over time at the rink here New Years Eve.

1948 Life 6 Sept. 55/2 (caption) Baseball players in midget leagues receive jerseys and caps free from the sponsoring merchants.

1972 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 14 Nov. 7/4 Once again it is pee-wee, bantam, midget, juvenile, house-league hockey time.

1988 Atlantic Insight Jan. 21/3 Andrews' hockey school runs for nine weeks in summer... The school..offers elite courses for bantam, midget, junior and other more advanced levels.

1994 Goderich (Ont.) Signal-Star 25 May b7/2 (advt.) Sue outjumped everyone at the..track and field meet in Tillsonburg last week, winning the gold in the Midget Girls high jump event.

2021 Telegraph-Jrnl. (New Brunswick) (Nexis) 8 July b10 I played organized hockey to the midget level where my talents were just not good enough to continue to the junior level.

Compounds

midget golf n. a form of miniature golf, usually played indoors.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > forms of golf > [noun]

miniature golf1890

clock golf1899

best ball1920

putt-putt1922

midget golf1930

crazy golf1936

minigolf1950

mini-putt1971

pitch-and-putt1972

1930 Daily Express 6 Nov. 3/7 Sydney's midget golf boom.

1930 Daily Tel. 1 Dec. 23/6 (advt.) An 18-hole midget golf course complete.

1933 M. Lowry Let. c11 Sept. in Sursum Corda! (1995) I. 140 A boat also goes on Wednesday week,..with a dance floor of polished glass, a rifle range a midget golf course, carrying a cargo of bellbuoys and raw alcohol.

1999 K. George Place of their Own i. 20 They spent a week together and Jim recalls having a ‘beaut’ time playing midget golf.

midget sub n. = midget submarine n.

ΚΠ

1933 Pop. Sci. Mar. 22 (headline) Midget sub to seek riches on sea's floor.

2010 Daily Mirror (Eire ed.) (Nexis) 29 May 25 The ruthless cartels are..using midget subs to transport drugs and it is possible they can carry several tonnes inside the craft.

midget submarine n. a small submarine (sometimes defined as any submarine under 150 tons), often carrying a crew of only one or two, and used in surprise attacks, surveillance, etc.In quot. 1917 not as a fixed collocation.

ΚΠ

1917 Hearst's Dec. 429/1 His [sc. Henry Ford's] present scheme is a midget submarine.

1942 Manch. Guardian 2 June 5/6 Japanese midget submarines last night attempted a raid on Sydney harbour.

1984 Times 19 Nov. 7/8 Soviet midget submarines which crawl along the seabed are operating off Gibraltar.

2014 H. R. Clinton Hard Choices iii. 53 A team of UN investigators concluded that a North Korean midget submarine was likely responsible for the unprovoked attack.

Derivatives

ˈmidgety adj.² somewhat colloquial resembling or suggestive of a midget; very small or insignificant, puny.

ΚΠ

1871 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Daily Sentinel 2 Dec. Of all the subjects of my sidewalk studies, none are so full of interest to one as girls. Not so especially the midgety mites of a half dozen or so summers, but those who [etc.].

1962 Harper's Mag. 1 Mar. 19/1 The GOP leaders of the two Houses..look pretty midgety in comparison with Taft, Vandenberg, or even Borah.

2007 Sunday Times 3 June (Style section) 51 The fish was rather midgety by northern standards, but decent for Notting Hill.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2022).

单词	midget
释义	midgetn.adj. Brit. /ˈmɪdʒᵻt/, U.S. /ˈmɪdʒᵻt/ Forms: 1800s mitchet (U.S.), 1800s– midget. Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: midge n., -et suffix¹. Etymology: < midge n. + -et suffix¹.The form mitchet in sense A. 2 represents a colloquial United States pronunciation. A. n. 1. Originally English regional (south-western). a. A thing that is very small, or conspicuously smaller than is usual or expected, or in comparison to something else. ΚΠ 1802 ‘P. Pindar’ Middlesex Election: Pt. II v. 26 With your good leave, I'll zet bevore ye, My Lord, a midget of a story Of Farmer Tab, my neighbour. 1864 S. S. Robbins Faithful & True iii. 56 If you'll let me stay, Mr. Evans, we will soon know head from tail, all over this midget of a house. 1940 Amer. Boy Feb. 25/1 (advt.) Our Dandy packet includes all these: Giant Map Stamp (world's biggest), Fiume (dead country), Liberia (Bongo Antelope),..tiny Medellin ‘Midget’ (dwarf Stamp), antique Portugal (60 years old). 1958 A. Wainwright in Wainwright's TV Walks (2007) Helm Crag 5 Here on the top of little Helm Crag, a midget of a mountain,..a remarkable array of rocks..yield a quality of reward out of all proportion to the short and simple climb. 1991 Chile Pepper June 15/2 Old Minorcan and Spanish recipes..have been greatly influenced by this mighty midget, the Datil pepper. 2020 T. Wu Curse of Bigness (e-book ed.) v IBM was a mere midget compared to AT&T.., then the largest firm in the world, and the unquestioned monopolist of American communications. †b. A (very) small piece; a fragment, a scrap. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1865 T. Garland List Words Common Use W. Cornwall in Jrnl. Royal Inst. Cornwall Apr. 50 Midget.., a mite. 1880 M. A. Courtney W. Cornwall Words in M. A. Courtney & T. Q. Couch Gloss. Words Cornwall 37/2 Midget, a very small bit; a scrap. 1882 F. W. P. Jago Anc. Lang. & Dial. Cornwall 218 218 Midgets, or midjans, small pieces, or bits. 2. North American. A very small fly; esp. a biting midge (family Ceratopogonidae). Now rare.Cf. no-see-um n., punkie n.¹ ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Diptera or flies > [noun] > member of flyc1000 midget1815 dipter1828 midge1839 1815 H. C. Knight Broken Harp 73 I've see him [sc. a fairy]..Make minnow-hooks of spinner's shin, Of spider's films a midget-gin; Fetter the fetlock of a fly, Or noose on his proboscis tie. 1844 Farmer's Monthly Visitor 31 Aug. 128/2 The cause of must is the collection of midgets and other insects entering them [sc. casks and barrels] after they are emptied of cider. 1860 A. B. Street Woods & Waters viii. 83 ‘Whew, the flies is comin',’ said Corey. ‘How quick they smell a feller out! Plague take these mitchets; but we'll fix'em, skeeters and all!’ 1933 F. H. Cheley Camping Out 423 The ‘punkeys’ and ‘midgets’ can outstrip them [sc. mosquitoes] for ferocity and the painful character of the wound which they inflict. 2008 C. Pelletier in W. McNair Place called Maine 180 No-see-ums that we called midgets, but are really midges. 3. a. Chiefly U.S. A (young) child. Now somewhat rare. ΚΠ 1854 H. B. Stowe Sunny Memories Foreign Lands II. 150 Here six or eight midgets were jumping the rope, while papa and mamma swung it for them. 1918 W. M. Kirkland Joys of being Woman xvi. 189 The little girl felt sleepy very early here on the farm—she that was such a sleepless midget at home. 1947 Amer. Weekly 23 Mar. 14/2 [The babysitter] knew if she showed fright her mischievous midget would scoot in the wrong direction. So she quietly talked to him and persuaded him to crawl back. 2014 @PeterWheldon 3 July in twitter.com (accessed 7 Oct. 2021) Daddy is cooking..dinner while Super Mum reads the midgets a story. b. A person who is (very) small or short; spec. a person who is unusually short in stature as a result of a genetic, medical, or environmental condition or process causing dwarfism. Now often derogatory in general use and considered offensive when applied to a person with dwarfism.Midget has never been a widely accepted technical term in medicine, but it has often been used (in general and occasionally in scientific contexts) as a specific term for a person affected by proportionate dwarfism (proportionate dwarfism n. at proportionate adj. Compounds); see e.g. quots. 1931, 1967.Often (esp. in the 19th and earlier 20th centuries) used with reference to people with dwarfism working as circus, theatre, or film performers. ΘΚΠ the world > life > the body > bodily height > shortness > [noun] > person dwarfeOE congeonc1230 go-by-ground?a1300 smalla1300 shrimpc1386 griga1400 gruba1400 murche1440 nirvil1440 mitinga1450 witherling1528 wretchocka1529 elf1530 hop-o'-my-thumb1530 pygmy1533 little person1538 manikin1540 mankin1552 dandiprat1556 yrle1568 grundy1570 Jack Sprat1570 squall1570 manling1573 Tom Thumb1579 pinka1585 squib1586 screaling1594 giant-dwarf1598 twattle1598 agate1600 minimus1600 cock sparrow1602 dapperling1611 modicum1611 scrub1611 sesquipedalian1615 dwarflinga1618 wretchcock1641 homuncio1643 whip-handle1653 homuncule1656 whippersnapper1674 chitterling1675 sprite1684 carliea1689 urling1691 wirling1691 dwarf man1699 poppet1699 durgan1706 short-arse1706 tomtit1706 Lilliputian1726 wallydraigle1736 midge1757 minikin1761 squeeze-crab1785 minimum1796 niff-naff1808 titman1818 teetotum1822 squita1825 cradden1825 nyaff1825 weed1825 pinkeen1850 fingerling1864 Lilliput1867 thumbling1867 midget1869 inch1884 shorty1888 titch1888 skimpling1890 stub1890 scrap1898 pygmoid1922 lofty1933 peewee1935 smidgen1952 pint-size1954 pint-sized1973 munchkin1974 1869 H. B. Stowe Oldtown Folks xvi. 177 Now you know Parson Kendall's a little midget of a man. 1876 Boston Daily Globe 23 Dec. 9/4 The wonderful midgets, General Mite and Miss Zarate, continue to attract delighted audiences... Their performances are much more interesting in character than those of most of the ‘little people’. 1903 Rev. of Reviews Apr. 347 The undersized midgets of new recruits. 1931 Toledo (Ohio) News-Bee 6 Jan. 8/1 Midgets are not dwarfs. Midgets are perfectly proportioned. Dwarfs are not, and midgets are touchy about being called dwarfs. 1939 St. Nicholas Aug. 37/3 Nearly all the midgets in the United States, 116, were recruited..to play the Munchkins. 1967 Sci. Amer. July 103/1 Physicians refer to any very short person as a dwarf, but in common usage a distinction is drawn between midgets and dwarfs. A midget is a short person whose proportions are normal or nearly so and a dwarf is someone whose proportions are abnormal. 1977 Bay Area Reporter 1 Sept. 32/2 At 5′6″ (‘I'm a midget; I wear skates cause it puts me at 5′8″!’) he's young, ambitious, and tall in talent if short on patience. 1997 B. Paskin Dudley Moore xxix. 427 ‘Where are my cigarettes you fucking little midget!’ she screamed. 2014 @davbentley 4 Mar. in twitter.com (accessed 8 Oct. 2021) Everyone wanting to end the ‘N’ word and the ‘R’ word. Let's add the ‘M’ word to that list! I'm a dwarf, not a midget! c. figurative. With preceding adjective. A person who is notably deficient in the specified quality, ability, etc. Cf. pygmy n. 2b. ΚΠ 1906 Cannock Chase Courier 15 Aug. The priestly bogies..that have produced so many spiritual dwarfs, moral midgets, and mental pigmies, and stamped out human progress for a thousand centuries. 1917 A. Cahan Rise of David Levinsky ix. xii. 270 There were several circumstances that made it possible for a financial midget like myself to outbid the lions of the cloak-and-suit industry. 1970 J. P. Spradley You owe yourself a Drunk 22 I must be a..mental midget or just a nut. 1993 A. Dacyczyn Tightwad Gaz. ii. 21/2 I, the greatest mathematical midget of all time, have to work out how to compare. 2013 @JoyTruth 16 Mar. in twitter.com (accessed 15 Oct. 2021) I am so often stunned by the number of emotional and intellectual midgets that I have become acquainted with over time! 4. Something (esp. a vehicle, ship, or aircraft) designed or made in a smaller size than usual; spec. a small, single-seat racing car; (also) a model of compact two-seater sports car. Also in earliest use: †(a trade name for) a very small photographic portrait (obsolete). ΘΚΠ society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > [noun] > small or light accelerator1861 midget1897 jigger1904 1897 A. Beardsley Let. ?10 Mar. (1971) 272 I look forward to seeing your photograph... Mother's midgets came out rather well. 1909 Fortn. Rev. 2 Aug. 269 If instead of Dreadnoughts we had built ‘Midgets’, ships of 5,000 tons, and Germany had followed our example, it would still be necessary for us to maintain our lead in Midgets. 1916 Fresno (Calif.) Morning Herald 3 Nov. 15/7 Expect fifteen Midgets in automobile races at fair grounds... A Midget automobile race will be pulled off Sunday, November 12. 1933 M. Arlen Man's Mortality ii. 32 He climbed into the midget [sc. an aircraft], and called out to the cadet: ‘Altitude?’ 1968 Compl. Encycl. Motorcars 386 The little fabric-bodied, pointed-tail two-seater M-type M.G. Midget of 1929..was Britain's first really cheap..sports car. 1978 Internat. Countermeasures Handbk. 1978–79 (EW Communications Inc) 223/2 Midget—Two-seat trainer variant of the MiG-15 FAGOT [aeroplane]. Introduced in 1951 and now considered obsolete. 2002 Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) 1 May 3 c/2 We can put the 4-cylinder midgets and V-8 sprint cars out there [i.e. on the speedway track] and the fans can tell the difference. B. adj. (chiefly attributive). 1. Originally English regional (south-western). Very small, tiny; designed or made in a smaller size than usual; spec. (chiefly U.S.) designating a small, single-seat racing car, now typically one with a four-cylinder engine.See also midget submarine n. at Compounds. ΚΠ 1865 T. Garland List Words Common Use W. Cornwall in Jrnl. Royal Inst. Cornwall Apr. 50 Midget, very small. 1881 Engineering July 702 A midget motor.—A little curiosity in engineering... This is in all probability the smallest steam engine in the world, for it is almost microscopic in its dimensions. 1888 Lady 25 Oct. 374/3 A smaller frame, screen shape,..to hold six ‘midget’ photographs. 1916 Fresno (Calif.) Morning Republican 3 Nov. 15/7 A Midget automobile race will be pulled off Sunday, November 12... Max Friedman..had already secured the entry of six of the fast little Midget automobiles. Art Smith, aviator, has entered his Midget cars. 1933 Modesto News-Herald 1 July 1/5 A series of events for speedy, midget racing cars at the Modesto Junior College field. 1934 Discovery Nov. 324/2 The combined radio-gramophone and deaf-aid..includes..three midget valves. 1942 Hutchinson's Pict. Hist. War 18 Mar.–9 June 26 (caption) One of the Royal Navy's midget war ships, a motor gun-boat, on patrol duty round the coasts of Britain. 1953 D. Thomas Let. 16 Feb. (1987) 870 Since the disasters, big and midget, I mentioned some time ago,..I've got unknotted. 1969 Britannica Bk. of Year 1968 801/1 Sprint car, a rugged racing automobile that is midway in size between midget racers and ordinary racers. 1991 Amer. Cinematographer Sept. 83/1 It gave us just enough power to run two tweenies and one midget light. 2003 W. Ely Dorney Park vii. 73 The track had been built for midget racing cars, and a major improvement in the safety fence was needed to run stock cars. 2. a. Of a person: (very) small or short; spec. (now offensive) unusually short due to a genetic or medical condition causing dwarfism. Now often derogatory in general use and likely to be considered offensive when applied to a person with dwarfism.In quot. 1875 in the name of a group of acrobats, probably children (cf. A. 3a). ΚΠ 1875 Morning Post 6 Aug. 1/4 (advt.) Crystal Palace.—This day. Blondin, the Midget Hanlons, &c. 1891 News & Observer (Raleigh, N. Carolina) 29 Apr. Yesterday, a midget girl, only 32 inches high, was married to..a man 6 feet 1 inch high. 1930 Sunday Pict. 9 Mar. 28/3 That elusive Scottish midget winger, Bobby Archibald. There is only 5ft. 4in. of Archibald, but he is full of all the tricks of the game. 1957 J. Kerouac On the Road i. x. 58 The little midget newspaper-selling woman. 2001 Straits Times (Singapore) 22 Feb. (Life! section) l4 A true story about a midget woman who defied social conventions and parental objections to become a well-known Hokkien opera actress in the 1960s. b. Designating a dwarf breed or specimen of an animal or a variety of plant. ΚΠ 1880 Middletown (N.Y.) Daily Argus 17 July (advt.) ‘A midget horse’, the smallest in the world. Perfect in every respect. Only 24 inches in heighth [sic], and weighing less than one hundred pounds. 1884 Gardeners' Chron. 8 Mar. 302/2 (advt.) Dwarf midget varieties, producing flowers of brilliant and distinct un-Dahlia-like colours and shapes. 1932 Pop. Mech. Oct. 559/2 When a midget horse was brought into a San Francisco blacksmith's shop, it was discovered that there were no shoes small enough to fit it. 1973 B. Marsh If your Rhubarb is Backward, bend it Forward vii. 96 A mixing of midget conifers with early spring bulbs is one of the optimum combinations..for a rockery. 2011 Equine June 28/1 When I was a small child.., I remember from time to time seeing the occasional small or midget pony that would measure under 38″. 3. figurative. Underdeveloped; weak, inferior, or insignificant in extent, character, quality, etc.; puny. ΚΠ 1879 Times (Philadelphia) 12 Oct. 7/4 In the Baptist Association..there were some midget souls who loathed to extend Christian fellowship to a brother who would commune with a Universalist and worship with a Jew. 1908 Daily Chron. 7 Aug. 4/4 The spiritual intelligences..must..laugh at our serious midget efforts to comprehend and explain the circumambient infinite. 1955 Motive Nov. 21/3 We refuse to be manacled by midget minds whether socialist or capitalist or cooperative, or what not. 2003 L. Shriver We need to talk about Kevin (2006) 289 ‘In your dreams,’ said Kevin. ‘You wanna turn this into a Harlequin romance, that's your midget imagination, not mine.’ 4. North American (chiefly Canadian). Designating a level of amateur sport typically involving players aged 16 or 17. ΚΠ 1918 Manitoba Free Press 4 Dec. 13/5 The Free Press Midget hockey team has been organized with the following officers: [etc.]. 1930 Roblin (Manitoba) Rev. 2 Jan. 1/4 Kamsack and Roblin Midget hockey team played to a 2-2 game after ten minutes over time at the rink here New Years Eve. 1948 Life 6 Sept. 55/2 (caption) Baseball players in midget leagues receive jerseys and caps free from the sponsoring merchants. 1972 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 14 Nov. 7/4 Once again it is pee-wee, bantam, midget, juvenile, house-league hockey time. 1988 Atlantic Insight Jan. 21/3 Andrews' hockey school runs for nine weeks in summer... The school..offers elite courses for bantam, midget, junior and other more advanced levels. 1994 Goderich (Ont.) Signal-Star 25 May b7/2 (advt.) Sue outjumped everyone at the..track and field meet in Tillsonburg last week, winning the gold in the Midget Girls high jump event. 2021 Telegraph-Jrnl. (New Brunswick) (Nexis) 8 July b10 I played organized hockey to the midget level where my talents were just not good enough to continue to the junior level. Compounds midget golf n. a form of miniature golf, usually played indoors. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > forms of golf > [noun] miniature golf1890 clock golf1899 best ball1920 putt-putt1922 midget golf1930 crazy golf1936 minigolf1950 mini-putt1971 pitch-and-putt1972 1930 Daily Express 6 Nov. 3/7 Sydney's midget golf boom. 1930 Daily Tel. 1 Dec. 23/6 (advt.) An 18-hole midget golf course complete. 1933 M. Lowry Let. c11 Sept. in Sursum Corda! (1995) I. 140 A boat also goes on Wednesday week,..with a dance floor of polished glass, a rifle range a midget golf course, carrying a cargo of bellbuoys and raw alcohol. 1999 K. George Place of their Own i. 20 They spent a week together and Jim recalls having a ‘beaut’ time playing midget golf. midget sub n. = midget submarine n. ΚΠ 1933 Pop. Sci. Mar. 22 (headline) Midget sub to seek riches on sea's floor. 2010 Daily Mirror (Eire ed.) (Nexis) 29 May 25 The ruthless cartels are..using midget subs to transport drugs and it is possible they can carry several tonnes inside the craft. midget submarine n. a small submarine (sometimes defined as any submarine under 150 tons), often carrying a crew of only one or two, and used in surprise attacks, surveillance, etc.In quot. 1917 not as a fixed collocation. ΚΠ 1917 Hearst's Dec. 429/1 His [sc. Henry Ford's] present scheme is a midget submarine. 1942 Manch. Guardian 2 June 5/6 Japanese midget submarines last night attempted a raid on Sydney harbour. 1984 Times 19 Nov. 7/8 Soviet midget submarines which crawl along the seabed are operating off Gibraltar. 2014 H. R. Clinton Hard Choices iii. 53 A team of UN investigators concluded that a North Korean midget submarine was likely responsible for the unprovoked attack. Derivatives ˈmidgety adj.² somewhat colloquial resembling or suggestive of a midget; very small or insignificant, puny. ΚΠ 1871 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Daily Sentinel 2 Dec. Of all the subjects of my sidewalk studies, none are so full of interest to one as girls. Not so especially the midgety mites of a half dozen or so summers, but those who [etc.]. 1962 Harper's Mag. 1 Mar. 19/1 The GOP leaders of the two Houses..look pretty midgety in comparison with Taft, Vandenberg, or even Borah. 2007 Sunday Times 3 June (Style section) 51 The fish was rather midgety by northern standards, but decent for Notting Hill. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2022). < n.adj.1802
随便看	red-diaper red-dog red-dogging red-dye bark red-dyed red-eared red-eared slider red-eared slider turtle red-eared sunfish red-eared terrapin red-eared turtle red-eaved red-edged red-ensigned red-eye red-eye gravy red-eye vireo red-eyed red-eyed flycatcher red-eyed vireo red-faced red-fallow red-feathered red-fedism red-fender