midget
noun/ˈmɪd͡ʒɪt/
Etymology From midge (chiefly in the figurative sense of “small thing”, literally “small fly”) + -et (diminutive suffix), (from Old English myċġ (“mosquito”), from Proto-Germanic *mugjō, from Proto-Indo-European *mus-, *mu-, *mew-; cognate with Dutch mug (“mosquito”) and German Mücke (“midge, gnat”)).
1
Derogatory, Sometimes A very small thing; especially one which is conspicuously smaller than expected or by comparison.
- the midget pony
- By using a midget, skin-tight car of the kind made in Italy the Johannesburger might save himself much tribulation, but he likes large and glittering things, and would rather toil round his city in vain search of a place to put his supercharged, supergrinning Mammalac than use a baby car.1949, Douglas Reed, Somewhere South of Suez: A Further Survey of the Grand Design of the Twentieth Century, page 48:
3
Derogatory, Offensive A short person.
- They [children] realize their oughts no less sharply than their crosses; and this even though they are midgets in a land of giants who have forgotten much of their language and whose right is often founded solely on force majeure.1930, Walter de la Mare, Poems for Children, London: Constable & Co., →OCLC, page xxix; republished in “[The Children’s Bookshop] Children and Childhood”, in Henry Seidel Canby, editor, The Saturday Review of Literature, volume VII, number 9, New York, N.Y.: Saturday Review Associates, 20 September 1930, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 151, column 2:
- Like a midget at a urinal, I was going to have to stay on my toes.1994, Pat Proft, David Zucker, Robert LoCash, 44:20 from the start, in Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (motion picture), spoken by Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen):
4
Derogatory Something for use by a small person; especially something designed or made for one.
- Derived terms
- crib midget, mental midget, midget car, midget cell, midget-esque, midget golf, midgetism, midgetlike, midgetly, midget-minded, midgetness, midgetry, midget-submarine, midget tossing, midgety
- Hyponyms
- manikin, homunculus, pygmy, lilliputian