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An elf is a make-believe being that looks a bit like a small person, with pointed ears and magic. In older northern stories, elves were nature spirits — sometimes kind, sometimes tricky, not always cute.
An elfelf（精靈）is a make-believe being that looks a bit like a small person是一種虛構的生物，長得有點像小小的人，with pointed ears and magic有尖尖的耳朵，還會魔法。In older northern stories在比較古老的北方故事裡，elves were nature spirits精靈是自然界的精靈神——sometimes kind, sometimes tricky, not always cute有時候善良，有時候狡猾，不一定可愛。
Today, when children say elf, they often mean Santa’s little at Christmas, in green or red.
Today, when children say elf現在小孩子說 elf 的時候，they often mean Santa's little helpers at Christmas通常是指聖誕節時聖誕老公公身邊的小幫手，in green or red穿綠色或紅色衣服的。
In films, games, and fantasy books, though, the word has stretched: many elves are tall and beautiful, not small at all. That taller picture was made famous by the writer Tolkien.
In films, games, and fantasy books, though不過在電影、遊戲和奇幻小說裡，the word has stretched這個字的意思擴大了：many elves are tall and beautiful, not small at all很多精靈其實高大又美麗，一點都不小。That taller picture was made famous by the writer Tolkien這種高大的形象是作家 Tolkien（托爾金）讓它變得有名的。
People use elf in stories, games, and jokes; it is not a formal word. You would not use it about a real person unless you were teasing them for looking small and sharp-featured, and even then the tone can sting.
People use elf in stories, games, and jokes大家在故事、遊戲和玩笑裡用 elf 這個字；it is not a formal word它不是正式的詞。You would not use it about a real person你不會拿它來說一個真實的人 unless you were teasing them for looking small and sharp-featured除非你是在調侃對方長得嬌小、五官尖尖的，and even then the tone can sting而且就算是這樣，語氣也可能會刺人。
組成An old Germanic word: Middle English elf, from Old English ielf / ælf, from Proto-Germanic *albiz. It probably goes back to a very old word for “white”. The small-fairy picture is old; the tall, noble elves in modern fantasy were popularised by Tolkien.
原始詞典資料13 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
elfnoun/ɛlf/
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human-sciencesmysticismmythologyA supernatural being or spirit associated with illness, mischief, and harmful or dangerous magical influence; in later Norse sources, sometimes divided into benevolent light elves (inhabiting Álfheimr) and malevolent dark elves.
- […] if theyr children at any time vvere frowarde and vvanton, they would ſay to them that the Guelfe or the Gibeline came. VVhich vvords novve from them (as many thinge els) be come into our vſage, and for Guelfes and Gibelines, we ſay Elfes & Goblins.
- The man whom heauens haue ordaynd to bee / The ſpouſe of Britomart, is Arthegall: / He wonneth in the land of Fayeree, / Yet is no Fary borne, ne ſib at all / To Elfes, but ſprong of ſeed terreſtriall, / And whylome by falſe Faries ſtolne away, / Whyles yet in infant cradle he did crall; / Ne other to himſelfe is knowne this day, / But that he by an Elfe was gotten of a Fay.
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artsfolklorehistoryA small, magical creature similar to a fairy, often mischievous, playful, or occasionally helpful.
- For there and ſeveral other places / About mill dams and green brae faces, / Both Elrich, Elfs and Brownies ſtayed, / And Green gown’d Farries daunc’d and played; […]
- IN Days of Old when Arthur fill’d the Throne, / Whoſe Acts and Fame to Foreign Lands were blown; / The King of Elfs and little Fairy Queen / Gamboll’d on Heaths, and danc’d on ev’ry Green.
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fantasyA member of a race of tall, slender, graceful beings with pointed ears, typically immortal or very long-lived and possessing wisdom and magical abilities.
- Much of fairy lore clusters around the so-called fairy rings, that is, the green circles in old pastures within which the elfs were supposed to dance at night by the light of the moon.
- He was not speaking troll-talk now, but the language of Elfland, that grander tongue that he had had to speak when he was before the King: for he knew the language of Elfland although it was never used in the homes of the trolls, who preferred troll-talk. This language was spoken in those days also by men, for there were fewer languages then, and the elves and the people of Erl both used the same.
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obsoleteA very diminutive person; a dwarf.
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Bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix).
elfverb/ɛlf/
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archaicTo twist into elflocks (of hair); to mat.
- My face I'll grime with filth, blanket my loins, elf all my hairs in knots, and with presented nakedness outface the winds and persecutions of the sky.
這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。