small

Etymology

From Middle English smal, from Old English smæl (“small, narrow, slender”), from Proto-Germanic *smalaz (“small”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mal-, *(s)mel- (“small, mean, malicious”). Cognate with Scots smal; sma (“small”); West Frisian smel (“narrow”); Dutch smal (“narrow”); German schmal (“narrow, small”); Danish, Norwegian, Swedish smal (“narrow; thin; slender”); Latin malus (“bad”); Russian ма́лый (mályj, “small”).

Pronunciation

• (UK)
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /smɔːl/ [smoːɫ]

  • Audio (UK); [smoːw]:

    (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

  • Rhymes: -ɔːl
• (US)
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /smɔl/
  • (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /smɑl/

  • Audio (US); [smɑɫ]:

    (file)

• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /smoːl/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): [smɔːɫ]

Adjective

small (comparative smaller, superlative smallest)

1. Not large or big; insignificant; few in number.

   Synonyms: little, microscopic, minuscule, minute, tiny; see also Thesaurus:small

   Antonyms: big, (said of an amount of something given) generous, large; see also Thesaurus:large

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.

   • 2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70:

     Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.

   A small serving of ice cream.

   A small group.

   1. Humiliated or insignificant.

      The bullies had succeeded in making him feel small.

      • 2015, Justin Bieber, Love Yourself:

        For all the times that you made me feel small / I fell in love, now I feel nothing at all

   2. Having a small penis, muscles, or other important body parts, regardless of overall body size.

      Synonyms: little, under-endowed (of genitals)

      Though over six feet tall, the man was very small and ashamed to undress.

2. (figuratively, not comparable) Young, as a child.

   Synonyms: little, (Scottish) wee, young

   Antonyms: adult, grown-up, old

   Remember when the children were small?

3. (writing, not comparable) Minuscule or lowercase, referring to written or printed letters.

   Synonyms: lowercase, minuscule

   Antonyms: big, capital, majuscule, uppercase

   • 1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 584:

     "I've got catholic tastes. Catholic with a small "c", of course."

4. Evincing little worth or ability; not large-minded; paltry; mean.
   • 1851, Thomas Carlyle, The Life of John Sterling:

     A true delineation of the smallest man is capable of interesting the greatest man.

5. Not prolonged in duration; not extended in time; short.

   a small space of time

6. Synonym of little (“of an industry or institution(s) therein: operating on a small scale, unlike larger counterparts”)

   small science

7. (archaic) Slender, gracefully slim.
8. (especially clothing, food or drink) That is small (the manufactured size).

   I'll have a small coffee, thanks.

Adverb

small (comparative smaller, superlative smallest)

1. In a small fashion

   Don't write very small!

2. In or into small pieces.
   • 2009, Ingrid Hoffman, CBS Early Morning for September 28, 2009 (transcription)

     That's going to go in there. We've got some chives small chopped as well.

3. (obsolete) To a small extent.
   • 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC, line 1273:

     It small avails my mood.

4. (obsolete) In a low tone; softly.
   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], line 49:

     That's all one: you shall play it in a mask, and / you may speak as small as you will.

Noun

small (countable and uncountable, plural smalls) (nominalized)

1. (uncountable, especially clothing, food or drink) One of several common sizes to which an item may be manufactured.

   Synonym: S

2. (countable, especially clothing, food or drink) An item labelled or denoted as being that size.

   Two smalls and a large, please.

3. (countable, especially with respect to clothing) One who fits an item of that size.
4. (countable, rare) Any part of something that is smaller or slimmer than the rest, now usually with anatomical reference to the back.

Verb

small (third-person singular simple present smalls, present participle smalling, simple past and past participle smalled)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To make little or less.
2. (intransitive) To become small; to dwindle.
   • 1917, Thomas Hardy, The Clock of the Years:

     And smalled till she was nought at all.

Anagrams

• malls

Verb

small (strong)

1. first-person singular past indicative of smella
2. third-person singular past indicative of smella

Etymology

From Middle Low German smal, from Old Saxon smal, from Proto-Germanic *smalaz. Cognate with German schmal, Dutch smal, English small.

Adjective

small (comparative smaller, superlative smallst)

1. narrow
2. small, slender

Adjective

small

1. Alternative form of smal

Verb

small

1. (non-standard since 2005) past tense of smelle

Verb

small

1. past tense of smella

Verb

small

1. past indicative of smälla

Anagrams

• malls

Adjective

small

1. Alternative form of smaale
   • GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY:

     A small neal.

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 58