pigmy

ˈpɪgmi

WordNet

Interesting fact

The pigmy shrew a relative of the mole is the smallest mammal in North America. It weighs 1/14 ounce less than a dime.

(n) Pigmy
any member of various peoples having an average height of less than five feet
(n) pigmy
an unusually small individual

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

Pigmy
See Pygmy.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

(n) Pigmy
See pygmy.

Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary

Pigmy
Same as Pygmy.
(n) Pigmy
one of a fabulous dwarfish race of antiquity: a dwarf: any diminutive thing: one of several pygmy races in equatorial Africa and elsewhere: one of the ancient diminutive dwellers in underground houses, &c., in whom David MacRitchie sees the historical originals of the fairies and elves of folklore

Quotations

Ones reputation is like a shadow, it is gigantic when it precedes you, and a pigmy in proportion when it follows.

Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

The reputation of a man is like his shadow, gigantic when it precedes him, and pigmy in its proportions when it follows.

Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

The eagle has ceased to scream, but the parrots will now begin to chatter. The war of the giants is over and the pigmies will now start to squabble.

Winston Churchill

Etymology

Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary O. Fr. pigme, pygme—L. Pygmæi—Gr. Pygmaioi, the Pygmies, a (Gr.) pygmē—13½ in. long—pygmē, fist.

Usage in the news

If he wills to be a pigmy, a serf or a slave, that shall he be. tnj.com

Usage in literature

The word is for pigmies. "Dreamers of the Ghetto" by I. Zangwill

And all the multitudes below seemed mere pigmies to me now. "The Harbor" by Ernest Poole

A shot came from the group of pigmy figures. "Astounding Stories, March, 1931" by Various

The long, slim legs closed in around him; like a pigmy guarded by the skeletons of giants he was led quickly away. "Astounding Stories of Super-Science January 1931" by Various

They are twin monsters inherited from intellectual pigmies. "Men, Women, and Gods" by Helen H. Gardener

Pigmies can only claim pigmy honors. "Whitman" by John Burroughs

Simon was not a small man himself, but he felt like a pigmy as his hand disappeared into one that opened like a suitcase. "The Monk of Hambleton" by Armstrong Livingston

The Lord will come and smite the world league in the pitifulness of its gathering and the pigminess of its might. "Why I Preach the Second Coming" by Isaac Massey Haldeman

But the pigmy was not altogether on parade. "The Missourian" by Eugene P. (Eugene Percy) Lyle

Once we could boast of giant minds: we have only pigmies now. "Daisy's Necklace" by Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Usage in poetry

Where on the slope, with speckled dye
The pigmy herds I scan;
Or soothed, the scattered Chalets spy,
The last abode of man:

"Hymn Written Among The Alps" by Helen Maria Williams

But though in pigmy wanderings dull
I scour the deserts of his skull,
I never find the face, eyes, teeth.
Lowering or laughing underneath.

"Cyclopean" by Gilbert Keith Chesterton

Waiting is also that island of anguish,
Destined to crush thy proud spirit at last,
Doomed amid pigmy tormentors to languish,
Facing forever its measureless past!

"To The Portrait Of Napoleon, As First Consul" by John Lawson Stoddard

And saw its water break, and saw, in fear,
Its quaking muscles in the act of birth,
Between her legs a pigmy face appear,
And the first murderer lay upon the earth.

"Imperial Adam" by A D Hope

No hunter, desirous to make us his prey,
Invades our lone valley by night or by day;
But green-mantled fairies their merry routs hold,
And fearless the pigmy there hammers its gold.

"Birds Of Passage (From The Swedish)" by George Borrow

And during his travels in Africa he made strange discoveries,
He discovered a dwarfish race of people called pigmies,
Who are said to be the original natives of Africa,
And when Stanley discovered them he was struck with awe.

"A Tribute to Henry M. Stanley" by William Topaz McGonagall