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Definitions for: Little
[n] a small amount or duration; "he accepted the little they gave him"
[adv] not much; "he talked little about his family"
[adj] small in a way that arouses feelings (of tenderness or its opposite depending on the context); "a nice little job"; "bless your little heart"; "my dear little mother"; "a sweet little deal"; "I'm tired of your petty little schemes"; "filthy little tricks"; "what a nasty little situation"
[adj] (informal terms) small and of little importance; "a fiddling sum of money"; "a footling gesture"; "our worries are lilliputian compared with those of countries that are at war"; "a little (or small) matter"; "Mickey Mouse regulations"; "a dispute over niggling details"; "limited to petty enterprises"; "piffling efforts"; "giving a police officer a free meal may be against the law, but it seems to be a picayune infraction"
[adj] limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent; "a little dining room"; "a little house"; "a small car"; "a little (or small) group"; "a small voice"
[adj] of short duration or distance; "a brief stay in the country"; "in a little while"; "it's a little way away"
[adj] (of a voice) faint; "a little voice"; "a still small voice"
[adj] lowercase; "little a"; "small a"; "e.e.cummings's poetry is written all in minuscule letters"
[adj] not fully grown; "what a big little boy you are"; "small children"
Webster (1913) Definition: Lit"tle, a. [The regular comparative of this word is
wanting, its place being supplied by less, or, rarely,
lesser. See Lesser. For the superlative least is used, the
regular form, littlest, occurring very rarely, except in some
of the English provinces, and occasionally in colloquial
language. `` Where love is great, the littlest doubts are
fear.'' --Shak.] [OE. litel, lutel, AS. l?tel, l[=i]tel, l?t;
akin to OS. littil, D. luttel, LG. l["u]tt, OHG. luzzil, MHG.
l["u]tzel; and perh. to AS. lytig deceitful, lot deceit,
Goth. liuts deceitful, lut?n to deceive; cf. also Icel.
l[=i]till little, Sw. liten, Dan. liden, lille, Goth.
leitils, which appear to have a different root vowel.]
1. Small in size or extent; not big; diminutive; -- opposed
to big or large; as, a little body; a little animal; a
little piece of ground; a little hill; a little distance;
a little child.
He sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the
press, because he was little of stature. --Luke xix. 3.
2. Short in duration; brief; as, a little sleep.
Best him enough: after a little time, I'll beat him
too. --Shak.
3. Small in quantity or amount; not much; as, a little food;
a little air or water.
Conceited of their little wisdoms, and doting upon
their own fancies. --Barrow.
4. Small in dignity, power, or importance; not great;
insignificant; contemptible.
When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou
not made the head of the tribes? --I Sam. xv.
17.
5. Small in force or efficiency; not strong; weak; slight;
inconsiderable; as, little attention or exertion;little
effort; little care or diligence.
By sad experiment I know How little weight my words
with thee can find. --Milton.
6. Small in extent of views or sympathies; narrow; shallow;
contracted; mean; illiberal; ungenerous.
The long-necked geese of the world that are ever
hissing dispraise, Because their natures are little.
--Tennyson.
Little chief. (Zo["o]l.) See Chief hare.
Little finger, the fourth and smallest finger of the hand.
Little go (Eng. Universities), a public examination about
the middle of the course, which as less strict and
important than the final one; -- called also smalls. Cf.
Great go, under Great. --Thackeray.
Little hours (R. C. Ch.), the offices of prime, tierce,
sext, and nones. Vespers and compline are sometimes
included.
Little ones, young children.
The men, and the women, and the little ones. --Deut.
ii. 34.
Lit"tle, n.
1. That which is little; a small quantity, amount, space, or
the like.
Much was in little writ. --Dryden.
There are many expressions, which carrying with them
no clear ideas, are like to remove but little of my
ignorance. --Locke.
2. A small degree or scale; miniature. `` His picture in
little.'' --Shak.
A little, to or in a small degree; to a limited
extent; somewhat; for a short time. `` Stay a
little.'' --Shak.
The painter flattered her a little. --Shak.
By little and little, or Little by little, by slow
degrees; piecemeal; gradually.
Lit"tle, adv.
In a small quantity or degree; not much; slightly; somewhat;
-- often with a preceding it. `` The poor sleep little.''
--Otway.
Lit"tle, a.
Little Englander, an Englishman opposed to territorial
expansion of the British Empire. See Antiimperialism,
above. Hence:
Little Englandism.
Little-neck clam, or Little neck (Zo["o]l.), the quahog,
or round clam.
Little peach, a disease of peaches in which the fruit is
much dwarfed, and the leaves grow small and thin. The
cause is not known.
Little Rhod"y, Rhode Island; -- a nickname alluding to its
small size. It is the smallest State of the United States.
Little Sisters of the Poor (R. C. Ch.), an order of women
who care for old men and women and infirm poor, for whom
special houses are built. It was established at St.
Servan, Britany, France, in 1840, by the Abb['e] Le
Pailleur.
Little slam (Bridge Whist), the winning of 12 out of the 13
tricks. It counts 20 points on the honor score. Living
Synonyms: bantam, bittie, bitty, brief, diminutive, dinky, dwarf, dwarfish, elfin, elflike, emotional, fiddling, footling, gnomish, half-size, immature, infinitesimal, itsy-bitsy, itty-bitty, least, lesser, lilliputian, littler, littlest, lowercase, Mickey Mouse, micro, microscopic, midget, miniature, miniscule, minuscule, minute, niggling, petite, petty, picayune, piddling, piffling, pocket-size, pocket-sized, puny, runty, short, shrimpy, slender, slim, small, smaller, smallest, smallish, small-scale, soft, teensy, teensy-weensy, teentsy, teeny, teeny-weeny, tiny, trivial, undersize, undersized, unimportant, wee, weensy, weeny, young
Antonyms: big, large
See Also: small indefinite amount, small indefinite quantity
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