A dwarf is an extremely short adult who is less than 58 inches tall. The word midget is considered derogatory and offensive.
Definition of DWARF. 1. a: a person of unusually small stature; especially: one whose bodily proportions are abnormal. 2. : an animal or plant much below normal size. 3. : a small legendary manlike being who is usually misshapen and ugly and skilled as a craftsman A white dwarf, also called a degenerate dwarf, is a stellar remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to that of the Sun, and its volume is comparable to that of Earth. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes from the emission of stored thermal energy. The nearest known white dwarf is Sirius B, at 8.6 light years, the smaller component of the Sirius binary sta dwarf. n, pl dwarfs or dwarves (dwɔːvz). 1. (Physiology) an abnormally undersized person, esp one with a large head and short arms and legs. dwarf-a person who is markedly small. midget, nanus. hypophysial dwarf, Levi-Lorrain dwarf, pituitary dwarf-a dwarf whose condition is caused by a deficiency of growth hormones, rather than by genetic factors (as in the case of the achondroplastic dwarf). A dwarf is an extremely short adult who is less than 58 inches tall. The word midget is considered derogatory and offensive. Both words describe a short person, but refer to different physical characteristics and genetic conditions. Midget refers to a person who is very short, but normally proportioned. The term midget is now rarely used and is considered offensive. But its usage was very common until the end of the twentieth century. It has given way to short person or little person. Dwarf refers to a person with one of several varieties of a specific genetic condition called dwarfism. A dwarf has disproportion of body parts. This is generally caused by a genetic or nutritional disability. The term midget is different from dwarf based on body proportions. A person with dwarfism has disproportionately short limbs. The term midget was used to describe persons of small size but with normal proportions when compared to average people. [BBC]. Dwarfs is the standard plural of the noun dwarf. Dwarves is a newer variant popularized (though not invented) by English author J.R.R. Tolkien in his fantasy fiction works, including The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The Tolkien spelling is appropriate when referring to little people in fantasy worlds. In this sense, dwarf is inflected dwarfs, not dwarves, in the third-person singular present tense. The below ngram graphs the occurrence of the dwarfs and the dwarves (with the definite article to remove instances of the verb sense) in a large number of English-langage texts published in the 20th century. Usually, therefore, white dwarfs are composed of carbon and oxygen. If the mass of the progenitor is between 8 and 10.5 solar masses (M☉), the core temperature is sufficient to fuse carbon but not neon, in which case an oxygen-neon– magnesium white dwarf may be formed. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to that of the Sun, and its volume is comparable to that of Earth. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes from the emission of stored thermal energy. dwarf. pl. dwarfs or dwarves. 1  any human being, animal, or plant that is much smaller than the usual one of its species. 2  Folklore a little being in human form, usually ugly or malformed, to whom magic powers are attributed. 3  a star of relatively small size or mass and low luminosity.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dwarf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_dwarf http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dwarf http://www.diffen.com/difference/Dwarf_vs_Midget http://grammarist.com/usage/dwarfs-dwarves/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_dwarf http://www.yourdictionary.com/dwarf
what is a dwarfs