Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Greek Mythology A member of a race of dwarfs.
  • noun A member of any of various peoples, especially of equatorial Africa and parts of Southeast Asia, having an average height less than 5 feet (1.5 meters).
  • noun An individual of unusually small size.
  • noun An individual considered to be of little or no importance.
  • adjective Of or relating to the Pygmies.
  • adjective Unusually or atypically small.
  • adjective Unimportant; trivial.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To make like a pygmy; dwarf.
  • noun [capitalized] One of a fabulous race of dwarfs, mentioned by various ancient authors.
  • noun Hence A little or dwarfish person; a dwarf; also, anything very small of its kind.
  • noun The chimpanzee: perhaps as the supposed original of the fabled Pygmies.
  • Belonging to or resembling a pygmy; pygmean; dwarfish: very small of its kind; little.
  • In zoology, very small of its kind; dwarfish or dwarf: applied to many animals.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to a pygmy; resembling a pygmy or dwarf; dwarfish; very small.
  • adjective (Zoöl.) the kleeneboc.
  • adjective (Zoöl.) any species of very small geese of the genus Nettapus, native of Africa, India, and Australia.
  • adjective (Zoöl.) the gnome.
  • adjective (Zoöl.) any one of several species of very small green parrots (Nasiternæ), native of New Guinea and adjacent islands. They are not larger than sparrows.
  • noun (Class. Myth.) One of a fabulous race of dwarfs who waged war with the cranes, and were destroyed.
  • noun Hence, a short, insignificant person; a dwarf.
  • noun One of a race of Central African Negritos found chiefly in the great forests of the equatorial belt. They are the shortest of known races, the adults ranging from less than four to about five feet in stature. They are timid and shy, dwelling in the recesses of the forests, though often on good terms with neighboring Negroes.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an unusually small individual
  • noun any member of various peoples having an average height of less than five feet

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English pigmie, from Latin Pygmaeī, the Pygmies, from Greek Pugmaioi, from pugmē, cubit, fist; see peuk- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

  • Pygmy is the novelization of the joy resulting from the unwitting wordplay of non-native tongues.

    fourfour: 2009

  • Some books are about language; Chuck Palahniuk's recent Pygmy is about second language (or third or fourth or ...).

    fourfour: 2009

  • Pygmy is the novelization of the joy resulting from the unwitting wordplay of non-native tongues.

    Terrorist sympathy 2009

  • Some books are about language; Chuck Palahniuk's recent Pygmy is about second language (or third or fourth or ...).

    Terrorist sympathy 2009

  • But Pygmy is Chuck back in true form, although the ending was a bit of a let down .... for a Chuck book.

    Terrorist sympathy 2009

  • There are at least three distinct subspecies: B. m. musculus of the north Atlantic and north Pacific, B. m. intermedia, of the Southern Ocean and B. m. brevicauda (also known as the Pygmy Blue Whale) found in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean.

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows 2009

  • There are at least three distinct subspecies: B. m. musculus of the north Atlantic and north Pacific, B. m. intermedia, of the Southern Ocean and B. m. brevicauda (also known as the Pygmy Blue Whale) found in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean.

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows 2009

  • Down Home Southernaires were at one point known as Pygmy, and as Pygmy, they were great.

    Broward-Palm Beach New Times | Complete Issue 2009

  • It has a reputation for being difficult, thanks to the stilted English of its foreign narrator referred to as "Pygmy," an "exchange student" from somewhere in some Middle American town who's actually a terrorist with a culture-obliterating objective.

    Terrorist sympathy 2009

  • You were right, however, to mention how difficult the language is - but give 'Pygmy' a chance! reading the desxcriptions of american life through the eyes of this little terrorist was the best!

    Terrorist sympathy 2009

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