▪ I. † small, n.1 Obs. rare.
[OE. smæll (= MIcel. smell-r, Norw. smell, Sw. smäll, Da. smæld, also † smald), related to *smellan str. vb. (cf. Icel. smella, etc.) and smyllan wk. vb., of imitative origin.]
A smack or blow; an onset, shock.
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. John xviii. 22 An astod ðara ðeᵹna salde dynt vel smæll mið honde uutearde ðæm hælende. c 1205 Lay. 27052 At þan uorme smællen Romanisce veollen: fiftene hundred folden to grunden. |
▪ II. small, a. and n.2 (
smɔːl)
Forms: 1
smæl, 1, 3
smel, 1, 3–7
smal; 3–7
smale, 5
Sc. smaill; 5
smalle, 5–
small; 6
smaul(e, 5–6
Sc. smaw, 8–9
Sc. sma',
sma.
[Common Teutonic: OE. smæl, = OFris. smel (WFris. smel, NFris. smēl), MDu. (Du.), OS. (MLG., LG.), OHG. (MHG.) smal (G. schmal), ON. smal-r (rare; Norw., Sw., and Da. smal, are perh. mainly from LG.), Goth. smal-s; connexion with ON. and Icel. smá-r (Norw. and Da. smaa, Sw. små) small, OHG. smâhi (MHG. smæhe) insignificant, is doubtful, and relationship to forms outside of Teut. (as OSlav. malŭ) somewhat uncertain. In the later Continental languages the prevailing sense is that of ‘slender’, ‘narrow’. The form
smale, representing
OE. disyllabic forms, is common in
ME. and occurs as late as the 17th
cent.]
A. adj. I. 1. a. Of relatively little girth or circumference in comparison with length; not thick, stout, or fleshy; slender, thin. Now
dial. exc. of the waist.
| c 725 Corpus Gloss. G 155 Gracilis, smel. c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxix. §1 Him..ne hangað nacod sweord ofer ðæm heafde be smale þræde. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. (Rolls) II. 122 Wiþ þam smalan wyrme. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 207 Smiten of smale longe ȝerden. c 1250 Owl & Night. 73 Þi body is scort, þi swere is smal. a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. vi. 28 With middel smal ant wel y-make. c 1386 Chaucer Miller's T. 48 Fair was the yonge wyf, and therwithal As eny wesil hir body gent and smal. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 460/2 Smalle, as a wande, gracilis. 1490 Caxton Eneydos xxix. 113 Dydo..[had] handes soupple and thynne, with long fyngers and smalle. 1530 Palsgr. 324/2 Small, lyke a fyne threde or a heare, delye. Small as a woman in the waste or a wande, gresle. 1590 Sir J. Smyth Disc. Weapons 4 Rapier blades being so narrow, and of so small substance. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. i. ii. vi. (1651) 22 A like skin..struck upon by certaine smal instruments like drum sticks. 1683 Moxon Printing xi. ¶23 They..prick the Oynion fast upon the end of a small long Stick. 1712 Lond. Gaz. No. 5022/2 An Allowance shall be made..in consideration of wast in reducing the same [‘big wire’] to small Wire. 1779 Mirror No. 25, Now that small waists have come into fashion again. 1818 Moore Fudge Fam. Paris i, Like an hour-glass, exceedingly small in the waist. 1870 J. Hartley Budget 119 (E.D.D.), He wor soa small he luk'd like a walkin' clooas prop. |
b. spec. Applied to the more slender portions of the intestines;
esp. small gut(s).
| c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 159 Ilia, smæle⁓þearmas. c 1275 XI Pains of Hell 152 in O.E. Misc., Ne beo þe þarm ne so smel, Eft heo werpeþ al in al. 1486 [see gut n. 2]. 1548 Elyot s.v. Lactes, Some saye that they bee caules, wherein the small bowelles dooe lye. After other, the small guttes, by the whiche the meate passeth. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. i. ii. iv, The guts, or intestina,..are divided into small and great, by reason of their site and substance, slender or thicker. a 1625 [see gut n. 2 e attrib.]. 1668 Dryden Even. Love ii. i, I'll give them leave to make fiddle-strings of my small-guts. 1767 [see intestine n.]. 1836–48 B. D. Walsh Aristoph., Knights iv. i, Slices too Of the small-guts, the belly and the paunch. 1885 Huxley Elem. Physiol. vi. 161 The rest of the small intestines is no wider than the duodenum. |
† c. Of persons, etc.: Slender, slim; graceful. Chiefly in
gent(le) and small.
Obs.| c 1250 Owl & Night. 204 Þeyh..leof hym w[e]re Nihtingale, And oþer wyhte gent & smale. a 1300 Cursor M. 13138 His broþer doghter, gent and smal. c 1420 Sir Amadace (Camden) liv, The lordes and the lades small That comon wer of gentyll blode. 15.. Batayle of Egyngecourte 28 in Hazl. E.P.P. II. 94 Grete well, he sayd, your comely kynge, That is bothe gentyll and small. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. ii. iii. 23 My sister..is as white as a lilly, and as small as a wand. |
2. Having little breadth or width in proportion to length; narrow. Now
rare.
| 847 Charter in O.E. Texts 434 Fram smalan cumbes heafde to græwanstane. c 893 K. ælfred Oros. i. i. 18 He sæde ðæt Norðmanna land wære swyðe lang and swyðe smæl. Ibid., Norðeweard he cwæð, þær hit smalost wære, þæt hit mihte beon þreora mila brad to þæm more. a 1000 in Birch Cartul. Sax. II. 600 Andlangan þes smalan paðes. c 1205 Lay. 5867 Scradieð eower sceldes al of þe smal enden. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 329 Girt with a ceint of silk, with barres smale. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 165 Dido..kutte þe hyde into a þong þat was ful long and ful smal. 1424 Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 152 Item pro ij payr smale bandis ad ostia in campanili, 6d. 1473 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 16, viij elne of smale rybbanis for the King. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. 183 Cornwall..waxeth smaller and smaller in manner of an horne. c 1710 C. Fiennes Diary (1888) 252 Ye rest is filled with haire, Jewells and gold, and white small Ribon. 1803 J. Plymley Agric. Shropshire 339 The small cloth is about one-eighth of a yard narrower than the other. |
II. 3. a. Of limited size; of comparatively restricted dimensions; not large in comparison with other things,
esp. of the same kind.
Also used to qualify such words as
dimensions,
size. Phr.
small is beautiful: expressing a belief that small-scale institutions, systems, etc., are more desirable than large-scale ones; also as
adj. phr.| α c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xvi. §2 Ða smalan wyrmas ðe ðone mon æᵹðer ᵹe innan ᵹe utan wyrdað. a 1225 Juliana 154 An angel myd a naked swerd..hew it al to smale peces. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 63/329 Wilde foules, smale and grete. a 1300 Cursor M. 375 Þe light wit sterns, gret and smale. c 1386 Chaucer Sir Thopas 49 Ther spryngen herbes grete and smale. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxii. 100 Þai hafe twa smale holes in steed of eghen. 1488 Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) 494 A dyche of smale thornes and breres. c 1510 Barclay Mirr. Gd. Manners (1570) F. iij, The rauen neuer shall sing..like other birdes smale. 1562 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) i. 220 Smaill sweit smaragde. 1578 Nottingham Rec. IV. 52 An ironmonger of smale made wares, videlicet, of nayles, horse shues [etc.]. |
| β c 1000 Saxon Leechd. II. 180 Flæsc..lytelra wuhta, smælra fuᵹla. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 319 Ho-so hath of fuyre mest, he is smal and red. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xl. (Ninian) 1445 [It was] smallare sum part..þane þe todire leg had bene. c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. i. §21 Euery smal deuysioun in a signe. c 1420 Liber Cocorum (1862) 14 Take peions and hew hom in morselle smalle. 1445 in Anglia XXVIII. 271 In noon smal boke thei may be writen. 1530 Palsgr. 324/2 Small as a massyfe thing is of quantite, petit. 1560 Rolland Seven Sages 26 Ane proper sterne he saw, That was richt cleir perfite and wonder smaw. 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa vii. 290 Abundance of cattell here are both great and small. 1657 Austen Fruit Trees i. 63 Whereas young trees of a smaler sise may be removed with all their Roots. 1737 [S. Berington] Mem. G. di Lucca (1738) 174 Their Horses, as I observed before, are but small. 1751 D. Jeffries Treat. Diamonds (ed. 2) 20 Small Stones (which means Stones under the weight of a carat). 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 140 The top of the small cylinder, should have a communication with the bottom of the larger cylinder. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxxvi, A very small comfortable house in Curzon Street. 1868 Lockyer Elem. Astron. §627 The smaller bodies attract the larger ones. |
| Phr. 1973 E. F. Schumacher (title) Small is beautiful. 1975 Country Life 25 Dec. 1784/1 Adapting Schumacher's phrase, we decide that not only small but piecemeal is beautiful. 1976 Seed V. v. 6/3 Included are articles on self-sufficiency, ‘small-is-beautiful’ politics and agriculture and nutrition. 1977 D. James Spy at Evening xxiv. 193 Small Is Beautiful—but big pays more. 1978 Times 23 Mar. 16/3 Mr. St John-Stevas..has proclaimed that ‘small is beautiful’. There will be ‘no more of those monster schools’. 1979 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts July 468/1 It is worth mentioning another and different pressure upon the nature and shape of the hospital: and that is the vague but pervasive notion that ‘small is beautiful’. |
b. Of places, countries, etc. Also in
phr. (it's a) small world and
varr.: a comment on an unexpected meeting with an acquaintance or other similar coincidence.
| a 1000 in Birch Cartul. Sax. III. 210 Þat lond at Silham..and alle þe smale londe þat þere to bereth. 1382 Wyclif Luke xiv. 21 Go out soone in to grete stretis and smale streetis of the citee. c 1386 Chaucer Clerk's T. 427 To thee, that born art of a smal village. 1582 N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. i. v. 13 All of them [sc. islands] being but little or small. 1611 Bible Numb. xxxii. 41 Iair..tooke the small townes. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 373 This small City is neighbour to two others. 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 166 Rutland, the smallest of the English counties. 1869 A. R. Wallace Malay Archip. (1902) xix. 221 A small country like Holland..having possession of a very small island. |
| Phr. 1895 A. W. Pinero Second Mrs. Tanqueray iii. 147 Mr. Ardale and I have met in London... They say the world's very small, don't they. 1959 M. Gilbert Blood & Judgement i. 17 He was in the pub tonight... It's a small world, isn't it? 1967 R. Rendell Wolf to Slaughter iii. 21 ‘Small world,’ he said... ‘That bloke was in here yesterday.’ 1973 ‘H. Carmichael’ Too Late for Tears v. 69, I might've guessed even if I hadn't seen..you at the inquest in Aylesbury. Small world, isn't it? 1979 S. Barlay Crash Course i. 13 ‘How did you know?’..‘It's a small world.’ |
c. Of children, etc.: Not fully grown or developed; young. Also, of a sibling: younger.
small boy has become fairly common in modern colloquial use, but is felt to differ in connotation from
little boy, usually by suggesting greater activity and independence, also
small girl.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 656 Of his kin bi his liue dai;..wel fowre and .xx. ðhusent men,..wið-uten wif-kin and childre smale. 14.. W. Paris Cristine 141 (Horstm. 1878), What hathe Cristyne, my doughter smalle, Done with oure goddes? 1484 Caxton Fables æsop v. x, He fond a sowe, and her smal pygges with her. 1786 G. Washington Diary 5 July (1925) III. 86 That Cowpers Jack and Day, with some small boys and girls,..were assisting the farmer. 1796 H. M{supc}Neill Waes o' War iii. v, Monster! wha could leave neglected Three sma' infants and a wife. 1821 J. F. Cooper Spy I. i. 14 A small boy was directed to guide him to his room. 1841 Thackeray Gt. Hoggarty Diam. ix, There was a garden that certain small people might play in when they came. 1876 C. M. Yonge Three Brides II. xv. 292 He still looked on the tall, young man as the small brother to be patronized, and protected. 1891 L. T. Meade Sweet Girl Graduate xxii. 182 Three small girls were making themselves busy with holly and ivy. 1896 Westm. Gaz. 12 Dec. 1/3 To the great delight of various small boys. 1903 Daily Chron. 5 Jan. 6/7 In some cases the parents may threaten to leave our employ unless we give work to their small children. 1923 E. E. Cummings Let. 28 July (1969) 99 What happens to my ‘small’ ‘sister’..is not among the interests of my own completely erratic..existence. 1936 N. Streatfeild Ballet Shoes iv. 58 About twenty small girls..were learning tap-dancing. 1949 ‘J. Tey’ Brat Farrar xii. 100 If he had ever had a small sister he would have liked her to be just like Jane. 1973 M. Mackintosh King & Two Queens i. 14 ‘Go away, small girl,’ Frances commanded. 1977 A. Wilson Strange Ride R. Kipling i. 23 The strength of Rudyard's love for his small sister. |
d. Of words: Short, simple.
† Also of language: Simple, plain.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 18 Ðan man hem telled soðe tale Wid londes speche and wordes smale. 1679 V. Alsop Melius Inq. i. iii. 135 As if we were not as much obliged to tell the People their duty as God our wants in small English. 1821 Byron Sardan. i. ii. 511 Your first small words are taught you from her lips. |
e. local. Of a river, water, etc.: Low, shallow.
| 1791 W. H. Marshall W. England (1796) II. 258 Some days ago..the water was unusually low—provincially and not improperly ‘small’. 1886 in Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. s.v., I an't a zeed our water zo smaal, not's years. |
4. a. Used with collective nouns, denoting the limited size of the individual things, pieces, etc.
small print:
freq. applied to the detailed information or conditions qualifying the principal text of a document, and printed in a smaller type; also
attrib. and
fig. Cf. fine print (
fine a. 7 i).
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. i. (Bodl. MS.), Bestes þat eteþ smal gras and herbes. 1479 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 425 All smalwodde to be dischargid at the Bak. 1535 Coverdale 2 Sam. xxiii. 11 A pece of londe full of small corne. c 1588 in J. Morris Troubles Our Forefathers Ser. ii. (1875) 310 A very large narration.., which contained six-and-fifty sheets of paper written..in a very small letter. 1683 Tryon Way to Health iv. (1697) 83 No Baker can preserve the pure white Colour in his fine small Bread, if he be not quick about it. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 50 A small Print might easily be read by it. 1778 Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2) s.v. Lenton, Round ore, small ore, and smithum. 1785 T. Jefferson Notes on State of Virginia xxii. 323 A large octavo volume of small print. 1856 [see print n. 8]. 1879 London Society Christmas No. 64/1 A brilliant little flirt..who condescended to waste on me a good deal of small artillery. 1893 Spon Mechanic's Own Book (ed. 4) 330 Smaller wood is got from the branches of trees. 1902 O. Wister Virginians xxiv, The quaking-asps..are in small leaf. 1944 Blunden Cricket Country xvi. 161 What all these curious titles [of games said by Rabelais to have been played by Gargantua] meant in practice may be left to the small print of the commentaries. 1970 ‘W. Haggard’ Hardliners xi. 126 His contract had been terminated under some small-print clause he hadn't much studied. 1971 Daily Tel. 2 Nov. 14 Some interest attaches therefore to the ‘small print’ of the Queen's speech and how far it avoids firm undertakings on some of the more controversial measures. 1972 A. Price Col. Butler's Wolf xii. 136 There was nothing in the small print about having to like the men one served with. 1974 Times 17 Aug. 12/5 The collapse will..strengthen Government moves to reform the ‘small print’ [holiday] booking conditions. 1979 Sunday Times (Colour Suppl.) 18 Nov. 35/2 The Prince of Wales reckoned he got the better of the PM in one or two exchanges on the small print of recent Cabinet memoranda. |
b. Of money: Of little size and low value; consisting of coins of low denomination.
small change: see
change n. 7.
| 1561 J. Awdelay Frat. Vacab. (1869) 55 Thou hast shewed vs none but small money. 1624 Gataker Good Wife ii. 9 The Kings Almoner may cast small siluer about. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Indies I. xxi. 249 Paid in small Money to discharge the Accounts of the Shoemaker, Taylor [etc.]. a 1894 Stevenson St. Ives (1902) ix. 65 Here are four pounds of it in..notes, and the balance in small silver. |
| fig. 1879 Meredith Egoist xxxiii, If we are not to be beloved, spare us the small coin of compliment on character. |
c. Of a family: Consisting of young children.
small help (see
quot. 1903).
| 1829 Brockett N.C. Gloss. (ed. 2) s.v., In our Northern phraseology, a small family means a family of young children, however numerous. 1895 Edin. Rev. Apr. 422 For the sake of her unborn babe and her large small family. 1903 Daily Chron. 5 Jan. 6/7 One official of a mill-owning company..admits that ‘small help’—anglice ‘child labour’—is a great mistake. |
5. Little in amount or quantity:
a. Of material things, or properties naturally connected with these, as number, quantity, etc.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 5394 Ac is gode moder ofte smale ȝiftes him tok. a 1300 Cursor M. 972 Qui sal þi parte be sa smal? c 1386 Chaucer Friar's T. 128 My wages been ful streite and ful smale. c 1450 Merlin xv. 257 Thei ete soche vitaile as thei hadde, but it was full small. c 1470 Henry Wallace viii. 1340 His wynnyng was in Scotland bot full smaw. a 1530 J. Heywood Play of the Wether 1116 (Brandl), This nomber is smale, there lacketh twayne of ten. 1577 B. Googe Heresb. Husb. (1586) 146 Seeing that..the profit of the Milk is not smal. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. x. 20 This small inheritance my Father left me. 1626 in Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., Var. Coll. (1907) IV. 171 The necessitie of useing some smale quantitie of bay salt therein. 1632 Lithgow Trav. vii. 323 [I did] in all my trauells prosecute the like course of a small diet,..often too small against my will. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 13 July 1684, Some small sprinkling of raine. 1779 Mirror No. 12, I am a plain country-gentleman, with a small fortune and a large family. 1809 Med. Jrnl. XXI. 25 This should certainly be the smallest dose I would use in this disease. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 287 The revenue of England, under Charles the Second, was small. 1890 Wormell & Walmsley Electr. Serv. Man 139 The comparatively small currents passing through a single incandescent lamp. |
b. Of immaterial things, as actions, faculties, feelings, etc.
The exact sense varies to some extent with the
n., and in some cases the reference is rather to effect, force, or capacity than to amount.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 16946 Alle þe pines o þis werld to tell þai war ful small [v.r. to his ner but smalle]. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 6 My wittes ben to smale To tellen every man his tale. 1523 Ld. Berners tr. Froissart I. xcvi. 118 They..fledde to the market place, but they kept but a small order. 1559 Mirr. Mag., Dk. Suffolk vi, My travayle was not smal. 1611 Bible 2 Kings xix. 26 [They] were of small power. 1697 J. Lewis Mem. Dk. Glocester (1789) 33 His appetite was but small, considering how active he was. 1726 Swift Gulliver ii. viii, I had gotten a small cold. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VII. 262 They consider the loss of them as but a small misfortune. 1810 Crabbe Borough xviii. 80 His spirits low, and his exertions small. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xviii. IV. 170 As culpable as her small faculties enabled her to be. |
c. Denoted by a number which is among the least of a series; of low numerical value or ordinal rank; low.
spec. of playing-cards.
| 1391 Chaucer Astrol. ii. §21 For so gret a latitude or for so smal a latitude is the table compowned. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. vi. iii. 112 Small Latitudes, or Countreys betwixt the Tropicks. 1672 Wycherley Love in a Wood i. ii, Like the small cards..; when the play begins, you should be put out as useless. 1748 Hoyle Games (1778) 94 Three small Clubs or Spades, Queen and two small Hearts, King and one small Diamond. Play a small Trump. 1863 Hoyle's Games ii. 23 Having only a few small trumps, make them when you can. 1910 W. Dalton ‘Saturday’ Bridge iii. 63 Suppose that he holds ace, king, and three small diamonds, and ace, knave, and two small hearts. 1973 Country Life 10 May 1331/2 The declarer..led a small Spade to dummy. |
6. a. Only a little or slight amount or degree of (something); not much; hardly any.
| c 1386 Chaucer Prioress' T. 84, I kan but smal grammeere. c 1449 Pecock Repr. iv. iv. 442 It schulde not bicome me or eny man, having ful smal witt and discrecioun [etc.]. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 2 Some may be excellently lerned, & yet haue but small felyng of these thynges. 1577 Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 35 b, It wil also grow wel yenough..in any ground with small labour. 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Hist. Jas. V, Wks. (1711) 97 But small confidence could be long among reconciled enemies. a 1693 Ashmole Antiq. Berksh. (1719) I. 151 The small need the Lady had of Physick. 1719 De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 328 They had indeed small Hope of their Lives. 1786 Burns Holy Fair xxv, Sma' need has he to say a grace. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe v, You do but small credit to your fame, Sir Prior! 1857 Buckle Civiliz. I. x. 619 They had paid small attention to the etiquette of courts. 1874 Motley John of Barneveld I. i. 28 He had small love for the pleasures of the table. |
b. no small, great, considerable, marked; much, a good deal of.
Cf. no a. 2 b.
| 1548 Hall Chron., Rich. III, 50 b, He tooke there newes as a matter of no small momente. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 52 The plucking downe of Images, hath procured us no smale displeasure. 1639 S. Du Verger tr. Camus' Admir. Events a j b, This variety being no small attractive. 1697 J. Lewis Mem. Dk. Glocester (1789) 49 To the no small joy of the Prince and Princess. a 1770 Jortin Serm. (1771) II. xi. 217 It is no small impertinence to take hold of the attention of others. 1779 Mirror No. 62. 211 There, to my no small surprise, I found the Dean. 1843 Macaulay Ess. III. 552 There was..no small curiosity to know how he would acquit himself. |
c. Used in the superlative for emphasis: The least; the slightest.
| 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. ii. 159, I will dye a hundred thousand Deaths Ere breake the smallest parcell of this Vow. 1604 ― Oth. iii. iii. 188 Not from mine owne weake merites will I draw The smallest feare, or doubt of her reuolt. 1716–8 Lady M. W. Montagu Lett. I. xxxi. 104, I never can forget the smallest of your..Commands. 1797–1805 S. & Ht. Lee Canterb. T. I. 382 He risked..life, if he betrayed the smallest suspicion. a 1828 Bentham Wks. (1843) I. 240 In the most direct terms, and without any the smallest doubt, disguise, or reserve. 1891 Law Times XCI. 2/2 The court, without the smallest hesitation, made absolute the rule for a habeas corpus. |
d. in the smallest, in the least.
rare.
| 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. iv. ii. 179, I may make my case as Claudio's, to crosse this in the smallest. 1827 Carlyle Germ. Rom. III. 276 The best wives will complain of their husbands to a stranger, without in the smallest liking them the less on that account. 1864 ― Fredk. Gt. IV. 35 Not molesting Prince Karl in the smallest. |
7. Of no great length; short, brief:
a. Of time.
| 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas viii. v. (1558), But a small season last his prosperite. a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV, 32 The duke of Somersets battayl..wer wythin a smal season, shamefully dyscomfited. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. xv. 16 b, Within this small time I indeuoured..to see..the things most notable. 1611 Bible Isaiah liv. 7 For a small moment haue I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. 1632 Lithgow Trav. iii. 91 Within a small time he found the Captaines promise and performance different. 1707 Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 25 Their Fragility and small Duration. 1745 P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 27 The small Stay we made here..lost us at least 60 or 70..able Men. 1815 Scott Guy M. xlii, A letter to compose, about which he wasted no small time. 1874 W. S. Jevons Princ. Sci. xiii. (1900) 299 The duration of the spark was immeasurably small. |
b. Of journeys, distance, etc.
| c 1450 Lovelich Merlin 10137 (E.E.T.S.), Smale jornes they gonne to ryde The contre to serchen jn that tyde. 1579 North Plutarch, Cæsar (1612) 729 The souldiers..by small iourneys came at length vnto the citie. 1615 W. Lawson Country Housew. Garden (1626) 23, I suppose twenty yards distance is small enough betwixt tree and tree. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. v, At a small distance from the house. 1885 W. K. Clifford Common Sense Exact Sci. iii. (1892) 96 Instead of counting feet we count inches, which are smaller than feet. |
| transf. a 1859 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxiv. V. 229 The flesh of wild animals and the green fat of the turtle..went but a small way. |
8. Composed or consisting of, containing, few individuals or members; numerically little or weak.
† Also of years: Few.
| c 1470 Henry Wallace v. 807 Our power is to smaw;..To few we ar agayne yon fellone staill. a 1569 A. Kingsmill Man's Est. xi. (1580) 69 Where thei found that sillie Shepherde with his smal flocke. 1594 Parsons Confer. Success. i. 189 He being a child of so smale yeares. 1611 Bible 2 Chron. xxiv. 24 The armie of the Syrians came with a small companie of men. 1681 Dryden Abs. & Achit. 914 A small but faithful Band Of Worthies. 1724 De Foe Mem. Cavalier vi. (1894) 80 A small party of the musketeers followed me. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. l. V. 185 The right of peace and war is now confined to a small, and the actual exercise to a much smaller, list of respectable potentates. 1802 James Milit. Dict. s.v. Guard, Quarter Guard is a small guard commanded by a subaltern officer. 1874 Treas. Bot. Suppl. 1342/2 A small group of plants from New Grenada and Peru. 1889 A. R. Wallace Darwinism 80 Species of large genera vary more than species of small genera. |
9. a. Constituting a lower standard (of weight, size, etc.) than another having the same designation.
b. Falling somewhat short of the proper or usual standard.
| 1554 Hasse in Hakluyt's Voy. (1886) III. 94 They divide the small pound into 48 parts. 1640 in Entick London (1776) II. 166 Catling, the great gross, qt. 12 small gross of knots. 1660 Act 12 Chas. II, c, 4 Schedule s.v. Bosses, Bosses for Bridles the small groce, cont. 12 dozen. 1698 Froger Voy. 47 The island of St. Ann,..from which they are distant two small leagues. 1705 tr. Bosman's Guinea 11, I have travelled above three small days Voyage upon it. 1753 R. Clayton in Maundrell Journ. Jerus. 18 After an ascent of a small half hour we came to a most delicious fountain of cold water. 1834 Lowndes' Bibliogr. Man. I. 84 Austin's Urania... London, 1629. small 8vo. 1886 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. s.v. Long-hundred, A hundred of five score is called a small-hundred. 1888 Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 127 Small post, a size of writing paper, 16½ × 13½ inches. |
c. Introducing a repetition of the initial letter of a word to show that it has general rather than specific reference or that it is a less serious variety of the thing denoted.
Cf. capital a. 5 b,
big a. 3 h.
| 1952 Observer 18 May 7/6 Back to liberalism-with-a-small-l they trail. 1960 Times 22 Oct. 8/1 A newspaper that is serious, lively, and radical with a small r. 1968 Globe & Mail Mag. (Toronto) 13 Jan. 2/4 A general mood of small-c conservatism in the country. 1971 ‘A. Garve’ Late Bill Smith v. 139 They were both ardently liberal with a small ‘l’. 1974 W. Garner Big enough Wreath xii. 165 You're not out of trouble but I'm just beginning to spell it with a small t. 1979 L. Meyer False Front ii. 14 They came from different sides of the track, but that wouldn't have been enough to stop a small ‘d’ democrat like Winston. |
III. 10. a. Composed of fine or minute particles, drops, etc. In later use chiefly of rain.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. lvii. 437 Swiðe lytle beoð ða dropan ðæs smalan renes, ac hi wyrceað ðeah swiðe micel flod. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. (Rolls) I. 240 Ᵹenim of ðysse wyrte..swyþe smæl dust. Ibid. II. 86 Ᵹenim þonne smæl beren mela. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 85 Þe ilke þe foleȝeð þes fleisces lust, Alse deð þet smalchef þe winde. 1382 Wyclif Exod. xxx. 36 Whanne thow hast pownede alle..into moost smal powdre. c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) xii, Boyle mastyke and sence in smale poudre. Ibid., Take water and smale salte. 1574 Reg. Privy Council Scot. II. 406 The exhorbitant derth of small salt within this realme. 1583– [see salt n.1 1 b]. a 1586 Sidney Ps. xviii. xi, I bett these folkes as small as dust. a 1649 Winthrop New Eng. (1853) I. 209 The Rebecka,..two days before, was frozen twenty miles up the river; but a small rain falling set her free. 1676 Wood Jrnl. in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. i. (1694) 177 Thick Fogs with small Rain. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Indies I. xxii. 262 A small Rain happened to fall that damped my Powder. 1823 Scott Quentin D. i, Heaven, who works by the tempest as well as by the soft small rain. |
b. Fine, as opposed to coarse, in various applications.
| a 1000 in Thorpe Dipl. Angl. 158 Tu hund greates hlafes and þridde smales. c 1050 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 357 Artocobus, smæl hlaf. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 226 As smylt mele vnder smal siue smokes for-þikke. 1450–80 tr. Secreta Secret. liii. 32 Some metes are smale, and some metes are grete, and some are mene. 1742 Lond. & Co. Brewer i. (ed. 4) 72 If high dried, a gross Grinding is best, otherwise a smaller may be done. 1856 Morton Cycl. Agric. I. 193 This is to be done by sieves just smaller in the mesh than the size of the grain. 1891 Hartland Gloss., Small-sieve, a fine-meshed wooden sieve used in Rewing. |
† c. Of air: Thin, rarefied.
Obs.—1| 1495 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. xiv. xlv. 483 The ayre is..more smalle and clere than in ualleyes. |
11. Of cloth, yarn, garments, etc.: Fine in texture or structure.
Obs. exc. dial. In the case of cloth it is sometimes difficult to decide whether examples belong to this sense or to 2.
| c 900 tr. Baeda iv. xxv. 354 Ða fæmnan..swa oft swa hio æmtan habbað, þæt hio smaelo hræᵹel weofað and wyrcað. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 163 His alter cloð [is] great and sole, and hire chemise smal and hwit. 1473 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 13, xiij elne of smale Hollande clath for iij sarkis and a curche. 1488 Ibid. 150 For viij elne of small braide clayth to be sarkis to the King. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) I. p. xxxvi, In the vale of Esk is sa quhit and small wol, that it hes na compair in Albion. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iv. xi. 123 b, They bring..smal clothes of diuers sorts and colours..from..Cambaye and Ormmus. 1637 Bury Wills (Camden) 169 There is some sixe and thirtie grosse of small yarne. 1901 in Eng. Dial. Dict., Small weft, a very fine sort of yarn. Lanc[ashire]. |
12. Of low alcoholic strength; light, weak:
a. Of specific liquors, as ale, wine, etc., or diluted forms of these. See also
small beer.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 460/2 Smal wyne, villum. 1467 in Eng. Gilds 382, iij. galons of smale ale for j.d. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxv. 13 O! ȝe heremeitis.., That..drynkis no wyn confortatiue, Bot aill and that is thyn and small. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 53 b, Theyr vynes brynge forth but temperate and small wynes, as reed, claret, and whyte. 1605 London Prodigal i. ii, Let me haue sacke for vs old men: For these girles and knaues small wines are best. 1664 Dryden Rival Ladies Ep. Ded., It being at best, like small Wines, to be drunk out upon the Place. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 336 If your Fruit be unripe, or your Cyder small. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet in Aliments, etc. 270 Small Ale without Hops. 1789 Buchan Domest. Med. (1790) 149 His drink may be small negus,..and sometimes a little weak punch. 1827 Good Study Med. (1829) I. 170 The drink [should] be small brandy and water. 1864 Daily Telegr. 17 Mar., Customers, who had contrived to make themselves uncommonly merry with pots of the smallest ale. 1879 Stevenson Trav. Cevennes 33 The wine is of the smallest. |
b. Of drinks, beverages, or liquors in general, sometimes applied to such as are non-alcoholic.
In
quot. 1471 said of water in contrast to spirit.
| 1471 Ripley Comp. Alch. i. xi. in Ashm. (1652) 131 The better therefore shall be Solucyon, Then yf thou dyd it wyth Water small. 1544 T. Phaer Regim. Lyfe (1560) I vj, To abstayne from all kyndes of wyne, & to use himselfe to small drinke. 1626 Bacon Nat. Hist. §394 By Making Drinks, Stronger, or Smaller with the same Quantity of Mault. 1675 E. Wilson Spadacrene Dunelm. 86 Stronger Stomachs must be content with smaller Beverages, and Wine diluted. 1705 Lond. Gaz. No. 4108/3, 16 Tuns, and 2 Hogsheads of Small Beveridge and Anjue Wine. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) VI. 372 Cheated by a stronger liquor for a smaller. a 1800 in Good's Study Med. (1829) V. 573 Encouraging the eruption, by taking small warm liquors, as tea, coffee, wine-whey, broth, and nourishing meats. |
c. In general use: Weak, thin.
rare.
| 1676 Wiseman Surg. Treat. 488 His drink was decoct. sarsæ [sarsaparilla], but so small, as it was little better than water. 1747 Wesley Prim. Physick (1762) 68 The leaves of it boiled in small Broth. |
13. a. Of sound or the voice: Gentle, low, soft: of little power or strength; not loud, harsh, or rough.
| c 1250 Gen. & Exod. 4056 Luuelike and wið speche smale, To wenden hem fro godes aȝe. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 688 A voys he hadde as smal as hath a goot. ― Miller's T. 174 He syngeth in his voys gentil and smal. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 28/1 After the stroke of the fyre descended a swete sowne of ayer softe and smalle. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Vox tenuata, a small voyce. 1611 Bible 1 Kings xix. 12 After the fire, a still small voice. 1697 Potter Antiq. Greece ii. xviii. (1715) 351 They proposed their Question in a small whispering Voice. 1750 Gray Elegy 73 In still small accents whisp'ring from the Ground. 1753 J. Collier Art Torment. ii. ii. (1811) 129 Throw a languidness into your countenance; let your voice grow small. 1842 S. Lover Handy Andy xxxviii, So still was it, that he could hear the small crumbling sound of the dying embers as they decomposed. 1880 R. Broughton Sec. Th. i. xii, ‘Thank you,’ she says, in a small voice. |
b. Of vowels: Narrow, close;
spec. in Gaelic phonology of the vowels
e and
i, and of certain consonants when in contact with these.
| 1599 Minsheu Sp. Gram. 6, E..in Spanish..must neuer be so small as the English ee, as fee, wee. 1707 E. Lhuyd Archæol. Brit. 299 That as the Vowels are divided into Broad and Small; so the Diphthongs and Triphthongs ending in a, o, or u, are Broad; and those in e or i Small. 1736 Ainsworth Lat. Dict. ii. s.v. I, The next small vowel e. 1801 A. Stewart Elem. Galic Gram. 20 They [l, n, r] have the small sound when..they are preceded or followed by a small vowel. 1830 Macleod & Dewar Gael. Dict. s.v. Leathan, Upon the same principle, the rule ‘Caol ri caol’ regulates the small vowels. |
14. Of wind: Light, slight, gentle.
| 1542 Lament. & Piteous Treat. in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) I. 235 A smal and softe wynde. 1671 tr. Frejus' Voy. Mauritania 9 We held on our course..with a small West-wind. 1698 Froger Voy. 154 We had a small gale that was favourable enough. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. iv. 162 A small breeze springing up from the W.N.W. 1802 M. Cutler in Life, etc. (1888) II. 108 Small wind, nearly ahead. |
15. Of the pulse: Beating weakly.
| 1755 Phil. Trans. XLIX. 50 The pulse small, the mouth and tongue foul. 1797 Monthly Mag. III. 230 A quick and small pulse. 1834 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 544 If a pulse be exceeding hard, and at the same time small, then it has been called a wiry pulse. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 849 The pulse is small, rapid, and thready. |
IV. 16. a. Of persons: Low or inferior in rank or position; of little importance, authority, or influence; common, ordinary. Now
rare.
In early use with ref. to military importance.
| c 1205 Lay. 436 Al þat smale mon-kun he dude ȝeond þea muntes. Ibid. 21803 His smale uolc he setten alle bi weste siden. c 1375 Barbour Bruce ix. 569 His small folk gert he ilk deill Vith-draw thame till a strate neir by. 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. i. ii. 128 To deme..euynly betwene grete men and Smale, ryche and Power. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon viii. 187 All the small people had ben all dead for hungre. 1517 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. V. 397 That every tope man paye xl.s. and every small man xx.s. 1561 Winȝet Wks. (S.T.S.) I. 6 The smallaste ane that sall perise throw ȝour negligence. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, v. i. 129 Your Enemies are many, and not small. 1833 T. Hook Parson's Dau. iii. vii, At dinner, some of the smaller neighbours were invited. 1863 Miss Mulock Mistr. & Maid xxii, She was altogether a very great lady, and Hilary..felt an exceedingly small person beside her. |
b. Having but little land, capital, etc.; dealing, doing business, etc., on a small scale.
spec.,
the small man, the typical small businessman.
| 1746 Francis tr. Horace, Epist. i. vii. 99 Philip next Morn our honest Pedlar found, Dealing his Iron Merchandise around To his small Chaps. 1835 C. F. Hoffman Winter in West I. 79 They were chiefly plain people, small farmers and graziers. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. ix. II. 480 Two beasts, such as the small yeomen of that time were in the habit of riding. 1850 C. Kingsley Alton Locke II. xi. 154 In helping to pass the Reform Bill, [they had] only helped to give power to the two very classes who crushed them—the great labour kings, and the small shopkeepers. 1887 Hindley Hist. Catnach Press 257 From a small beginner in the world, Catnach was soon able to see his way clear to amass a fortune. 1926 Chesterton Outl. Sanity iv. iii. 170 If the small man found his small mechanical plant helped to the preservation of his small property, its claim would be very considerable. 1931 V. Woolf Waves 255 How comforting it is to watch the lights coming out in the bedrooms of small shopkeepers on the other side of the river. 1935 M. Egan Dominant Sex i. 27 In these days of trusts and combines the small man hardly stands an earthly. 1947 McCallum & Readman Brit. Gen. Election 1945 iii. 63 The Conservatives..professed that they were not in favour of the growth of monopoly, and that they were anxious to curb it for the sake of the ‘small man’. 1948 Koestler in Partisan Rev. XV. 38 The petite bourgeoisie—the store⁓keeper, artisan, small businessman, white-collar worker. 1960 A. Clarke Horse-Eaters 9 Thousands Bred yearly will fatten Small farmers. 1973 Sat. Rev. Soc. (U.S.) Mar. 58/1, I was a small farmer..and there's no way you can do it today. You need technology and you need efficiency..and you can't afford..it if you're down there on a small farm. 1974 Times 12 Nov. 14/2 The Smaller Businesses Association..set up to champion the interests of the small business man. 1976 R. Barnard Little Local Murder ix. 106 'Aven't you 'eard 'ow difficult things are for the small shopkeeper? |
17. a. Of minor rank, note, or importance, in respect of some specified office, function, etc.
| 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 27 Þe smale kynges of þe lond all were þei comen. 1382 Wyclif Prol. Bible i. 1 Alle these xij smale prophetis ben o book. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 126 The autoritee of the grete officer..gerris cess the autoritee of the smallare officer. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) II. 57 The haill bischopis, pryouris, and wther small preistis. 1588 Reg. Privy Council Scot. IV. 311 The small barronis and freehaldaris of this realme. 1610 B. Jonson Alch. i. ii, A speciall gentle, That..Consorts with the small poets of the time. 1763 Churchill Ghost iii. 860 Confine thy rage to weaker slaves, Laugh at small Fools, and lash small Knaves. 1765 Gray Shaks. 6 Fumbling baronets and poets small. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey ii. xii, A small author, and smaller wit. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xix. IV. 260 All their confederates, from Cæsar..down to the smallest Margrave. |
b. That is (such) to a small or limited extent, degree, etc.
Sometimes used to suggest the converse of the noun.
| 1523 Ld. Berners tr. Froissart I. cccxxxii. 519 He was but a small gentylman,..for a very gentylman wyll neuer set his mynde on so euyll an entent. 1567 Allen Def. Priesthood 207 Where there is nowe putte no difference betwixte small offendours and moste greuouse sinners. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 71 Zenall Chawn..(our small friend, at our being in his Citie). 1653 H. Cogan Scarlet Gown 125 They were but small friends to Pamphilio, and as such, they shewed themselves obstinate against his elections. |
c. With negative, in emphatic use.
| 1551 T. Wilson Logike (1580) 83, I remember of an other, and that no small birde, whiche was better learned then wise. 1657–61 Heylin Hist. Ref. i. ii. §4. 38 This Master Cook..was apt enough to think himself no small fool at a joynt of Divinity. 1784 Unfortunate Sensibility II. 72 The master of the inn..was no small body, for he was the owner of the vessel we came in. |
18. Of things, etc.: Of little or minor consequence, interest, or importance; trifling, trivial, unimportant.
With
quot. 1483
cf. Cotgrave's ‘
Menues pensées,..idle, priuate, or prettie thoughts.’
| c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 5702 Noght anly of gret dedes of elde, Bot of smale dedes of þair yhouthe. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. ii. pr. vii. (1868) 59 Ȝe seken ȝoure gerdouns of þe smale wordes of strange folke. 1451 J. Capgrave Life St. Aug. (1910) 8 Thus lerned he þe smale scienses, as spellyng, reding and constrewyng. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour m j b, She shalle euer be in melancholye and in smalle thoughtes. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lvi. 2 Think that small partis makis grit seruice. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 8 He..conferred the same vnto the Normanes and that for very small and light causes. 1624 Donne Devot. Wks. 1839 III. 552 We have heard of Death upon small occasions and by scornful Instruments. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. (1839) 85 How a man should..pick his teeth before company, and such other points of the small morals. 1734 Fielding Intrig. Chambermaid i. iv, She sent me, Sir, of [= on] a small message to you. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. i. i. iii, And then walk majestically out again, to embroidery, small-scandal, prayers, and vacancy. 1893 Academy 13 May 412/1 The fact..accounts, no doubt, for certain small recurrent defects in it. |
19. Not prominent or notable; humble, modest; unpretentious. In later use chiefly in the phrase
in a small way.
| c 1386 Chaucer Merch. T. 381 Al were it so she were of smal degree, Suffiseth hym hir yowthe and hir beautee. 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. V, 65 Therfore I over passyng small names and muche doyng, wil returne [etc.]. 1611 Bible Job viii. 7 Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase. 1809 European Mag. LV. 19 An emporium no less respectable in a small way. 1815 Jane Austen Emma iii, She lived with her single daughter in a very small way. 1872 T. Hardy Under Greenw. Tree Pref., A composer in a small way. |
20. a. Base, low; mean, ungenerous.
| 1824 Syd. Smith Wks. (1859) II. 52 The pitiful propensity..to vent their small spite at their [the American] character. 1874 Green Short Hist. 755 The smaller passions, the meaner impulses of the world around him. 1890 Spectator Oct. 468/1 That is trickery, not statesmanship; and..it is small trickery too. |
b. Incapable of large views or great actions; small-minded, mean-souled.
| 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. i. iv. iv, A man unfit for Revolutions? Whose small soul..could by no chance ferment into virulent alegar? 1871 Smiles Charact. iii. (1876) 84 Small men may be envious of their fellows, but really great men..love each other. 1881 J. F. Clarke Self-Culture 258 Among the flippant and the frivolous, we also become small and empty. |
c. As complement with
feel and
look: Humiliated, mortified, injured in self-respect.
Cf. sense 16 a.
| 1784 E. Sheridan Jrnl. 6 Oct. (1960) 31 Linley came to see my Father, he received him very kindly but poor L. look'd very small. 1840 Mrs. Trollope Widow Married xix, I should feel a little small at being seen in such a place. 1863 T. Taylor Ticket-of-Leave Man iv. i. 74 You've no right to be..coming after a chap, to make him look small this way. 1894 A. Robertson Nuggets 190, I felt very small, for the scoundrel had been within my grasp, and I had let him slip. |
V. 21. a. Special collocations.
small ad,
small advertisement, a small advertisement in a newspaper,
usu. in a separate section devoted to such and printed with lack of display;
Small-Back, Death, imagined as a skeleton;
small balls, a variety of ironstone;
small body, in Printing (see
quot.);
small-bourgeois adj. = petit bourgeois; so
small bourgeoisie;
small capitals, in Printing, capital letters differing little in size from the lower-case letters of the same fount;
small caps = small capitals;
small cattle, cattle below the size of oxen, as calves or sheep;
small chisel (see
quot.);
small chop [
chop n.6] (
W. Afr. colloq.), small items of food;
small circle, in spherical trigonometry (see
quot.);
small end, in a piston engine, the end of a connecting rod nearer to the piston; also
attrib.;
smallest room (
colloq.), the lavatory of a particular building (
cf. small room below);
† small figures, Arabic numerals;
small folk,
= small people;
small-for-dates, (of a new-born baby) smaller than would be expected in view of the time since its conception;
small fortune: see
fortune n. 6;
small fruit (
N. Amer.) (see
quot. 1892);
smallgoods (
Austral.), sausages, bacon, etc.;
small-hand (see
hand n. 16);
small hand-paper (see
quot.);
small helm,
Naut. (see
quots.);
small-holder, one who owns or works a small-holding;
small holding, (
a) a holding smaller than an ordinary farm; also
spec. (see
quot.); (
b) the practice or occupation of working a small-holding;
† small meat, ? meat sold in small quantities;
small paper, in
Printing, paper of the ordinary size, as distinct from
large paper (
large a. 8 b);
small part, a minor part or character in a play;
small people, in local use, the fairies;
small-pipe(s), a Northumbrian bellows-filled bagpipe;
† small play, play for low stakes;
small room (
colloq.), a lavatory (
cf. smallest room above);
small round,
small sail(s,
Naut. (see
quots.);
small screen, television; also
attrib.;
small seed (see
quot. 1950);
small slam: see
slam n.2 2 b;
small stores (
Naut.), (
a) items for personal use or consumption on a sea-voyage; (
b)
U.S. articles of regulation issue clothing; a shop selling these; also
attrib. (in sing. or pl.);
small stuff (see
quots.);
† small-world,
= microcosm. See also
debt n. 4 f,
hour 3 b,
pica1 2,
potato 5 a,
raisin 2 b,
tithe,
trunk, etc., and small arms,
beer, -clothes, etc.
| 1922 *Small ad [see ad]. 1961 ‘F. O'Brien’ Hard Life vi. 45, I put a small ad. in one of the papers. 1969 Sunday Times 2 Mar. 8/3 To recruit models, they ran a string of small-ads asking: ‘Are you really ugly?’ 1978 J. Wainwright Ripple of Murders 11 A small ad. in the Personal Column..will read, ‘J. D. Message received.’ |
| 1919 Times 6 Nov. 2 *Small Advertisement order form. 1937 M. Allingham Dancers in Mourning xxiii. 285 Uncle William put down The Times. He had been looking at the small advertisements. |
| 1823 Scott Quentin D. xxxvii, Men have queer fancies when old *Small-Back is griping them; but Small-Back must lead down the dance with us all in our time. |
| 1793 A. Young Agric. Sussex 13 A marl sets on, in the different depths of which the iron-stone comes on regularly in all the various sorts as follows: 1. *Small balls, provincially twelve foots, because so many feet distant from the first to the last bed. |
| 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing 20 Long-Primer and downwards are accounted *small Bodies. |
| 1930 A. Bennett Imperial Palace lv. 414 Customers of the *small bourgeois class. 1974 N. Freeling Dressing of Diamond 134 A very small-bourgeois existence, with a canary. |
| 1970 F. C. Weffort in I. L. Horowitz Masses in Lat. Amer. xi. 398 They did not feel so much like members of a decadent *small bourgeoisie, but rather like operators with a stable position moving toward the better. |
| 1770 Luckombe Hist. Print. 250 *Small Capitals are mostly used to denote, that a more particular stress and emphasis is intended by the Author. 1888 Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 127 Small capitals, the smaller capitals laid in the upper case, distinct from the full capitals. |
| 1856 Geo. Eliot in Westm. Rev. Oct. 454 She informs us, with all the lucidity of italics and *small caps, that ‘function, not form,..weakly engrossed her’. 1967 Style Man. (U.S. Govt. Printing Off.) (rev. ed.) iii. 31 In matter set in caps and small caps..capitalize all principal words. |
| 1593 Benefits Observ. Fish-days, The number of Beefes aforesaid,..and other *small Cattel, as Calues, Sheepe, and Lambes innumerable. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2219 *Small-chisel, a burin or graver used by engravers. |
| 1963 M. Laurence in R. Weaver Canad. Short Stories (1968) 2nd Ser. 140, I use the shallow ones to put groundnuts in..for *small⁓chop with drinks. 1971 J. Spencer Eng. Lang. W. Afr. 11 Pidgin words, known and used by almost everyone,..who has lived in the coastal areas of West Africa..chop n and v, ‘food’ and ‘eat’, and its recent extensions in phrases such as small chop, ‘cocktail eats’, chop box,..etc. |
| 1873 Pryde Pract. Math. 365 Circles, whose planes pass through the centre of the sphere, are called great circles; and all others, *small circles. |
| 1850 T. Tredgold Steam Engine (ed. 3) I. ix. 7 Into these guide-blocks are fixed the cross-heads, forming the bearings for the *small ends of the connecting rods. 1908 Autocar Handbk. (ed. 2) ii. 38 The gudgeon pin end of the connecting rod is called the small end, and the other end the big end. 1922 Encycl. Brit. XXX. 36/2 The ordinary small-end bronze bush system with gudgeon pins fixed in the piston was used. 1948 A. W. Judge Mod. Motor Engineer (ed. 4) I. ix. 208 After a considerable period of running..the small-end brush may wear oval, due to the more or less vertical thrust of the connecting rod. 1971 B. Scharf Engin. & its Language xii. 122 Connecting rods... They comprise a big end..and a small end through which the gudgeon pin..passes. |
| 1930 *Smallest room [see geography 1 d]. 1933 P. Godfrey Back-Stage xvi. 202 The smallest room in the house invariably has prohibitory notices of a stern and intimate character. 1960 Guardian 29 Apr. 12/6 Soon she had become unable..to take herself into her ‘smallest room’ in the midget backyard. 1973 ‘H. Carmichael’ Candles for Dead xii. 150 At a guess, I'd say he's probably in the smallest room. |
| 1711 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 110 He makes *small Figures to be as old as a.d. 1050. |
| 1865 R. Hunt Pop. Rom. W. Eng. (1896) 118 The gardens of the Small People, or, as they are called by the natives, *Small Folk. |
| 1965 Clinics in Developmental Med. XIX. 1 Not all ‘*small for dates’ babies should necessarily be regarded as suffering from pathological growth retardation. 1978 Nature 30 Mar. 404/1 During the past twenty years it has become accepted that some babies are born small not because they are premature but because their growth has been retarded in the uterus. These so-called small-for-dates babies..are at greater than normal risk at birth. |
| 1822 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Gardening iii. 537 This operation [sc. gathering] in the case of *small fruits, as the gooseberry, strawberry, &c. is generally performed by the under gardeners. 1892 A. A. Crozier Dict. Bot. Terms 164/2 Small fruits, a horticultural term for certain low-growing perennial, fruit-bearing plants and their product, including the strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, gooseberry, currant, huckleberry, and cranberry. 1926 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 11 July 12/3 Small fruit continue to show prominence, but some varieties are becoming scarce. 1950 Sci. Monthly Apr. 212 The story of the evolution of the groups from which our small fruits have been derived is shrouded in the mists of the geological past. |
| 1969 Northern Territory News (Focus '69) 22 (Advt.), It sells the best cuts of meat—beef, lamb, veal and pork—as well as *smallgoods. 1973 Bulletin (Sydney) 25 Aug. 20/3 What are the smallgoods manufacturers putting in their sausages now that mutton, the backbone of their industry, has ceased to be cheap and plentiful? |
| 1821 *Small hand [see nary a.]. 1847 Dickens Dombey (1848) xiv. 134 He would be expected to inform Doctor and Mrs. Blimber, in superfine small-hand, that Mr. P. Dombey would be happy to have the honour of waiting on them. 1860 W. Collins Woman in White xi, The handwriting..was..in the cramped, conventional, copybook character, technically termed ‘small hand’. |
| 1888 Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 127 *Small hand paper, a common machine-made paper, generally straw-coloured, used for post wrappers and such purposes. |
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 634 *Small-Helm. One of the principal results of sound seamanship is the proper trim of the vessel and the sail carried; by which means the action of the rudder is reduced to a minimum. 1886 Encycl. Brit. XXI. 604 Small helm, when the sails are well balanced and the rudder but little used. |
| 1837 Lockhart Scott IV. i. 16 The property all about his original farm had been in the hands of various *small holders (Scotticé cock-lairds). 1915 H. R. Haggard in Times 15 Mar. 3/2 The wives and daughters of smallholders will help their menfolk because they are labouring for themselves. 1977 Times 18 Aug. 14/6 A smallholder living in a hut on the duneland plantation. |
| 1892 Act. 55–56 Vict. c. 31 §1 The expression ‘*small holding’..shall mean land acquired by a council..which exceeds one acre and either does not exceed fifty acres, or..is of an annual value..not exceeding fifty pounds. 1927 S. L. Bensusan Latter-Day Rural Engl. viii. 73 Smallholding thrives in Lincolnshire. |
| 1742 De Foe's Tour Gt. Britain (ed. 3) I. 24 [Ipswich] has five Market-days weekly; Tuesday and Thursday for *small Meat; Wednesday and Friday for Fish. |
| 1708 *Small paper [see 22]. 1936 W. M. Sale S. Richardson 31 It was not until the autumn of 1742 that he began to see the need for publishing his second small paper edition. |
| 1798 O'Keeffe Wild Oats iv. i, Drill the servants that I've given the *small parts to. |
| 1865 R. Hunt Pop. Rom. W. Eng. Ser. i. 65 The *Small People are believed by some to be the spirits of people who inhabited Cornwall many thousands of years ago. |
| 1855 in Wright Eng. Dial. Dict. (1904) V. 548/1 The torch was lit on point of spear—And *small pipes they did sound. 1927 Observer 30 Oct. 8 A humble performer on the Northumbrian small-pipes. 1967 A. L. Lloyd Folk Song in Eng. vi. 333 The silvery-toned Northumbrian small-pipes struggling to be heard above the full shrill singing. 1975 S. Marcuse Mus. Instruments 482/1 The mid-18th c., when the characteristic feature of the small-pipe was developed: its chanter was stopped. |
| 1629 H. Burton Babel no Bethel 7 [He] is willing rather to play *small play, then to giue out. |
| 1858 Queen Victoria Let. 7 Feb. in R. Fulford Dearest Child (1964) 35 Has the railway carriage got a *small room to it? 1979 D. Sanders Queen sends for Mrs. Chadwick 134 Where..was the nearest small room to the Queen's drawing-room, where the President would be received? |
| 1863 A. Young Naut. Dict. 358 *Small round, that end of the shank of an anchor which is next the stock. |
| 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. ii. 16 Take in your Main and Main-top-sail, Steering-sails [etc.]... Thus you have all the *small Sails in. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 634 Small-Sails, topgallant-studding-sails and the kites. 1886 Encycl. Brit. XXI. 604 Small sail, and snug sail, low and reduced, ready for bad weather. |
| 1956 B.B.C. Handbk. 1957 79 This unit..provides the means for young writers to become acquainted with the requirements of the *small screen. 1963 ‘E. Crispin’ Best SF Five 9 The success of the Quatermass series has given science fiction a limited yet tolerably regular share in the hotchpotch purveyed by the small screen. 1966 Guardian 29 Mar. 10/3 Both sides have studiously kept their small-screen liabilities out of the studios. 1971 Oxford Times 26 Nov. 31/4 The stars and the characters they portray are as in the small-screen version. 1980 Times Lit. Suppl. 31 Oct. 1229/4 Jonathan Miller had little success in finding the play's natural rhythms and adapting them to the small screen. |
| 1840 W. Deans Let. 30 Oct. in J. Deans Pioneers Canterbury (1939) 29, I..have got in about two acres of potatoes and..numerous *small seeds. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Apr. 359/1 Small seeds [grown in a Canterbury district] include perennial and Italian rye-grass, cocksfoot, crested dogs⁓tail, and clover. |
| 1814 G. Coggeshall Jrnl. 24 Mar. in Voyages (1851) 55 We took on board six casks of fresh water, some fresh provisions, and sundry small stores. 1877 Nautical Mag. XLVI. 195 Small stores as coffee, tea, or sugar was called by the ‘geordies’. 1927 U.S. Navy Bluejackets' Man. 379 The storekeeper who issues this clothing will make out a small-store slip in duplicate. 1938 Ibid. 20 Besides the small stores where you can get all your clothing at very cheap prices, your station will have the following shops. 1950 Ibid. 124 The storekeeper who issues this clothing makes out a small-stores slip, in duplicate. 1966 Noel & Bush Naval Terms Dict. 93 Clothing and small stores, standard articles of uniform for officers and enlisted men with such related articles as buttons, brushes, etc. |
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 634 *Small Stuff, the term for spun-yarn, marline, and the smallest kinds of rope, even for yarns. 1897 Daily News 18 June 5/2 The scarcity of spoons, forks, and knives,..called ‘small stuff’ in the catering business. |
| 1612 J. Davies (Heref.) Muse's Sacr. Wks. (Grosart) II. 64/1 Whose soule did animate thy *small-world too To be the soule of all that here I doe. |
b. In the specific or popular names of plants, as
small basil,
small bugloss,
small chaffweed, etc.
A large number of other examples occur in Lyte (1578) and Miss Pratt
Flowering Pl. (1855).
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens 240 Busshe Basill, or *small Basill gentle. |
| 1855 Miss Pratt Flowering Pl. IV. 245 *Small Chaffweed, or Bastard Pimpernel. |
| 1796 Withering Brit. Pl. (ed. 3) II. 264 *Small Currants. |
| 1548 Turner Names Herbes 15 The third kinde [of Aristolochia] is called Clematites & it may be called in english *small Hertworte. 1796 Withering Brit. Pl. (ed. 3) II. 287 Tordylium officinale.., Small Hartwort. |
| Ibid., Fine-leaved Bastard Parsley. *Small Hensfoot. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal 478 The Pinke is called..in English Pinkes, and *Smal Honesties. |
| 14.. Lat.-Eng. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 612 Solatrum i. morella, *smalmorell. |
| 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 75 Set chestnut and walnut, set filbeard and *smalnut. |
| 1842–59 *Small-reed [see reed n.1 5]. 1900 G. Nicholson's Dict. Gard. Suppl., Calamagrostis. Smallreed. This genus..was formerly included under Arundo. |
| 1855 Miss Pratt Flowering Pl. III. 158 *Small Woodruff, or Squinancy-wort. |
c. In names of fishes, birds, insects, etc.
Further examples may be found in special works, as Shaw
Gen. Zool. (1801–11), Rennie
Butterfl. & Moths (1832), etc.
| 1754 Catesby Carolina I. 80 The *small Bittern. |
| 1846 Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. 171 The *Small Copper [Butterfly] again made its appearance. |
| 1840 F. D. Bennett Whaling Voy. II. 72 That curious fish, the Leptocephalus, or ‘*small-head’. |
| 1884 Goode Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim. 550 ‘*Small Herring’, ‘Anchovies,’ ‘Skarp Herring.’ |
| 1787 Best Angling (ed. 2) 104 The Palmers. 6. The *small Red Spinners. 6. |
| 1734 E. Albin Nat. Hist. Birds II. 67 The *small Water-Hen. |
22. a. With
ns. forming combs. used attributively, as
small-angle,
small-band,
small-boat,
small-bore (also
fig.),
small-boy,
small-budget,
small-calibre,
small-city,
small-claims,
small-college,
small-debt,
small-drink,
small-end (see sense 21 a),
small-farm,
small-fry,
small-gauge,
small-girl,
small-grain,
small-group,
small-letter,
small-master,
small-note,
small-paper,
small-part,
small pattern,
small-plane,
small-power,
small-print (see sense 4 a),
small-sample,
small-screen (see sense 21 a),
small-shop,
small-signal,
small-size,
small-step,
small-store(s) (see sense 21 a),
small-tooth,
small-type;
small-cell Path., used
attrib. to designate various tumours of uncertain origin composed of small cells,
esp. an oat-cell carcinoma of the bronchus;
small-scale a., operating or executed on a small scale; drawn to a small scale; of small size or extent;
small-yield a. = low-yield adj. s.v. low a. 23.
Combs. of this type are very numerous in recent newspaper usage. (
N.E.D.)
| 1960 Proc. R. Soc. A. CCLIV. 242 (heading) The *small-angle scattering of photons. 1979 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts Jan. 106/2 Small-angle x-ray scattering, which is another versatile structural tool for phase transformations, defects and voids, supported catalysts, polymers and various biological materials. |
| 1941 Jazz Information Nov. 25/2 They are the best jazz recordings of the New Orleans *small-band type. 1977 New Yorker 12 Sept. 122/2 Hampton was enough of a sensation to be asked by Victor in 1937 to lead a series of small-band recordings. |
| 1897 Outing XXX. 333/1 The annals of *small-boat sailing. |
| 1898 W. S. Churchill in Morning Post 7 Oct. 5/7 The Dervish gunboat Bordaine..returned from its quest with nearly a hundred men wounded by the *small-bore bullets of a civilised force which was in occupation. 1900 Congress. Rec. 14 Feb. 1804/2 No small-bore, two-by-four, radical politicians can hurt that great court. 1932 Sun (Baltimore) 15 Nov. 10/2 The thing to do is to sweep this ghastly mess out of doors, once and for all. It will not be easy to do—if small-bore statesmanship is to continue to rule us. 1976 R.A.F. News 11–24 May 19 (caption) Brawdy's small bore rifle team pictured with..the Nobel Challenge Cup. |
| 1861 Harper's Mag. June 133/1 We sometimes sell skates: and buying a lot at auction last fall, we thought to monopolize all the *small-boy trade by posting a flaming placard announcing that we sold skates at twenty cents a pair. 1937 M. Allingham Dancers in Mourning xiii. 178 He was..handsome in the downy, small boy fashion of his kind. 1973 J. Stranger Walk Lonely Road xiii. 92 He grinned at her, and she grinned her small-boy grin back at him. |
| 1961 Times 31 July 14/7 Hardly anyone in Hollywood makes *small-budget pictures any more. 1979 ‘P. O'Connor’ Into Strong City xxxiv. 122 Someone in London..would rush out a small-budget film into which they would cram every Scottish actor and actress. |
| 1896 Spectator 31 Oct. 589/1 If it be suitable, the *small-calibre bullet will do much more damage. |
| 1929 Clute & Smith in Arch. Surg. XVIII. 11 In the fourth and last group..we have another debatable form of tumor. For the purposes of classification, we have designated it as the *small cell carcinoma. This is the type of tumor which is sometimes called lymphosarcoma, as it is made up of small round cells, poorly differentiated..with a prominent nucleus and an almost negligible amount of cytoplasm. 1966 Wright & Symmers Systemic Path. I. v. 265/1 In the earlier days of histopathology, although lymphocytic and lymphoblastic types of lymphosarcoma were recognized, various tumours were frequently confused with them, including..small-cell anaplastic carcinomas (for example, of the thyroid and bronchus). 1976 Path. Ann. XI. 319 In the differential diagnosis of acute leukemia the following should be considered: small cell epithelial tumors (eg, oat cell carcinoma, carcinoid, islet cell tumor), neuroblastoma, [etc.]. 1977 V. Coleman Paper Doctors xiii. 139 Surgery for small-cell cancer of the bronchus. |
| 1964 S. M. Miller in I. L. Horowitz New Sociology 292 The small-town and *small-city poor suffer from the demise of local industry. 1977 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 5 Mar. 12/2 This array of small-city labor disputes. |
| 1961 Webster, *Small-claims court. 1972 M. Kaye Lively Game of Death vii. 38, I simply threatened him with Small Claims Court... The maximum claim there is five hundred dollars. 1978 Listener 3 Aug. 159/3 The London Small Claims Court..is being run on an experimental basis and only handles claims up to {pstlg}350. |
| 1840 Thackeray Shabby-genteel Story viii, Tufthunt was a *small-college man of no family. |
| 1838 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. 919 The statute 39 and 40 Geo. III. c. 46, commonly called the *Small Debt Act. Ibid. 923 A case..remitted..to the small debt court. |
| 1659 R. Wilde Poems (1870) 1 Our *small-drink times Must be contented, and take up with rhymes. |
| 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 16 Feb. 60/3 This pinpoints the need for a cheaper *small-farm tank of from 80 to 125 gallons capacity. 1970 S. L. Barraclough in I. L. Horowitz Masses in Lat. Amer. iv. 112 If any group has been systematically discriminated against, it is the small-farm producers and landless workers. |
| 1874 ‘Mark Twain’ in Altantic Monthly Nov. 592/2 Dey wa'n't no *small-fry officers, mine you; dey was de biggest dey is. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 544 Alarm, excitement, fear, fright, and all those small-fry emotions. |
| 1957 R. Frankenberg Village on Border 10 The *small-gauge railway. a 1976 A. Christie Autobiogr. (1977) vi. i. 296 An expedition in a small-gauge train. |
| 1980 ‘A. Skinner’ Mind's Eye v. 73 ‘Thank you,’ she said with careful, *small-girl politeness. |
| 1840 J. Buel Farmer's Comp. 197 The *small-grain crops are the greatest exhausters of the fertility of the soil. |
| 1951 in Rohrer & Sherif Soc. Psychol. at Crossroads 333 The very few *small-group studies made in recent years. 1955 Keepnews & Grauer Pictorial Hist. Jazz xi. 117 Alternating big-band work with prolific small-group recording activity. 1964 I. L. Horowitz New Sociology 25 Even at the level..of small-group research, time must be recorded. 1972 G. Little in G. W. Turner Good Austral. Eng. vii. 135 The pupils sit in groups face to face, and pursue a variety of small-group activities. 1974 Melody Maker 13 Apr. 50/7 A lovely example of small-group jazz by players who have worked together. 1979 in W. G. Lawrence Exploring Indiv. & Organiz. Boundaries vi. 91 The students were told that they would participate in a small group experience. |
| 1771 Luckombe Hist. Print. 261 Of these *Small-letter Sorts, some are lodged in the Upper-case. 1945 E. Johnston Writing & Illuminat. & Lettering xv. 263 More time and material than a Small-letter MS. entails. 1950 Language XXVI. 13 Small-letter vowels. |
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 331/2 The last mentioned of the several modes..is the ‘*small-master system’. |
| 1823 W. Cobbett Rural Rides (1885) I. 387 The injury recently done to about forty thousand poor families..by the *Small-note Bill. |
| 1708 Hearne Collect. 8 Apr., 3 *small-paper Livys. |
| 1904 Mrs. Alec Tweedie Behind Footlights xi. 204 Those in the rank of ‘principals’, or ‘*small-part ladies’. |
| 1836 Dubourg Violin ix. (1878) 270 Lorenzio Guadagnini..copied the *small-pattern fiddles of his master. |
| 1964 G. Lyall Most Dangerous Game vi. 42 He was the only other pilot doing *small-plane charter work in Lapland that year. |
| 1956 Nature 18 Feb. 322/2 Specifications for two light-weight *small-power sprayers. |
| Ibid. 28 Jan. 160/1 Techniques of *small-sample loading employing micro-pipettes. 1968 Brit. Med. Bull. XXIV. 220/2 The calculations in the program have been written for the particular needs of the medical research worker; thus ‘small sample’ statistical theory is well represented. |
| 1852 C. W. H[oskins] Talpa 151 It is very fine..to connect one's own *small-scale improvements, after this fashion. 1887 [see scale n.3 11 a]. 1935 Discovery Mar. 78/1 The small-scale structure of the ice will be examined. 1951 R. Firth Elem. Social Organization ii. 43 These are small-scale units..the members of which are in close personal contact in daily life. 1954 M. Rickert Painting in Britain: Middle Ages v. 131 Softer, finer vellum, more suitable for the small-scale miniatures. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 16 Feb. 75/3 The disadvantages of small-scale farming heavily outweighed the advantages. 1964 W. L. Goodman Hist. Woodworking Tools 56 The difficulties of showing detail in small-scale carvings. 1979 N. & Q. Feb. 16/2 Orrery was very much the literary dilettante and small-scale Mæcenas. |
| 1937 Discovery Feb. 45/1 Flicker, ‘rain’ and a rather dim appearance make the demonstration noticeably inferior in quality to that obtained with the *small screen receivers now on the market. |
| 1868 G. Meredith Let. Oct. (1970) I. 376 Eleven a.m. plates of *small-shop ham, thick cut, grisly with brine: four smashed eggs on it. 1967 Karch & Buber Offset Processes ii. 9 The graphic arts is a small-shop industry. Only about 1,000 plants employ more than 100 employees, and the average is 17. |
| 1949 Bell Syst. Techn. Jrnl. XXVIII. 401 An explicit calculation of the transient phenomena outside the range of *small-signal theory. |
| 1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 44 *Small-size garnets are found..in this claim. |
| 1962 Simpson & Richards Physical Princ. Junction Transistors xv. 372 The equivalent circuits..may be used in the determination of the transient response of video amplifiers by estimating their time of response to a *small-step input of current or voltage. |
| 1687 Miége Gt. Fr. Dict. ii, A *small tooth Comb. 1732 Acc. of Workhouses 40 Their heads combed with small tooth combs every morning. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Small-tooth comb, a comb of ivory or bone with small teeth on each side. |
| 1962 R. Williams Communications iii. 58 Regular columns of close print, with *small-type headlines. 1976 Amer. Speech 1974 XLIX. 267 Good lexicography keeps open a variety of approaches to defining, which include..exploiting small-type notes for added comment. |
| 1959 N.Y. Times 19 Mar. 16/1 The three Project Argus detonations involved relatively *small yield nuclear devices. 1963 Listener 7 Feb. 251/2 The introduction of compact, mobile ‘small yield’ weapons into service with American forces in Europe. |
b. In combs. of the type
small-boyhood,
small-boyish,
small-colleger, etc.
| 1841 Roscoe Swift's Gulliver i. iv. note, Papists and protestants are the big-endians and small-endians. 1852 Bristed Five Yrs. Eng. Univ. (ed. 2) 127 The idea of a Small-Colleger beating all Trinity was deemed preposterous. 1864 J. C. Atkinson Stanton Grange 40 Tom subsided into small-boyhood again. 1882 W. James Let. 9 Nov. (1920) I. 214 Baginsky's torrent of words was even more overwhelming than Munk's. I never felt quite so helpless and small-boyish before. 1895 K. Grahame Golden Age 96 This dreary pastime found way into his small-boyish being. |
c. Forming verbs, as
small-hoe, to clean with a small hoe;
small-gang,
slang, to mob.
| 1786 Abercrombie Gard. Assist. 139 Salsafy, scorzonera, skirrets—small-hoe, and thin six inches distance. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Lab. I. 420/2 They ‘small-ganged’ me; and afterwards I went seven days to prison. 1892 P. H. Emerson Son of Fens 162, I see 'em kind o' looking and talking low; so, think I, they're going to small-gang me. |
23. a. In parasynthetic combs., as
small-bodied,
small-boned,
small-brained, etc. Also
small-mindedness.
Only a few of the earlier or more important examples of this type are here given.
| 1685 Lond. Gaz. No. 2019/8 A brown bay Nag,..full Haunched, and *small Bodied. |
| 1812 Crabbe Tales iii. 50 He soon display'd his skill In *small-boned Lambs. |
| 1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 566/1 The *small-brained and cold-blooded classes of Vertebrata. |
| 1873 T. H. Green Introd. Path. (ed. 2) 170 The groups of epithelial elements are always surrounded by a *small-celled (‘indifferent’) tissue, the small-celled growth preceding the epithelial invasion. |
| 1633 Gerarde's Herbal 1437 Flowers..which turn into *small cornered bladders of winter cherries. |
| 1733 W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farm. 330 The Crop becomes hopper, *small ear'd, and will not yield like the large one. |
| 1771 Luckombe Hist. Print. 226 The same Letter..being adjudged too *small-faced for..Small Pica. a 1930 D. H. Lawrence Etruscan Places (1932) 143 A small⁓faced, weedy sort of youth. 1967 Karch & Buber Offset Processes iv. 78 Sizes range from a small-faced six point to a 13-point full point sized capital letter font. |
| c 1550 Cheke Matt. vi, How much moor, ye *smalfaithed men, wil he cloth yow? |
| a 1734 North Lives (1826) I. 71 The leading counsel in a *small-fee'd case. |
| 1603 Breton Mad World my Masters Wks. (Grosart) II. 8/1 A..faire-handed, *small-footed, straight-bodied..gentlewoman. |
| 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 105 The *small-grained Sand is esteemed the best. |
| 1851 Glenny Hdbk. Fl. Gard. 21 They grow exceedingly well, especially all the *smaller-habited kinds. |
| 1851 H. Melville Moby Dick I. xli. 303 The White Steed of the Prairies; a magnificent milk-white charger, large-eyed, *small-headed, bluff-chested. 1931 W. Faulkner Sanctuary xvii. 159 The thick small-headed shape of him would be clinging to the bars, gorilla-like. |
| 1847 Helps Friends in C. i. v. 85 *Small-minded people carry their narrow notions and their acidity into their benevolence. |
| 1886 Besant Childr. Gibeon ii. xv, That kind of *smallmindedness was impossible. |
| 1796 Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 293 A fine *small-pored white enamel. |
| 1670 Eachard Cont. Clergy 98 We must have a great care of comparing our *small-preferr'd clergy with those but of the like fortune in the church of Rome. |
| 1956 P. Larkin Less Deceived 40 Nor the shelves stuffed with *small-printed books for the Sabbath. |
| 1951 C. W. Mills White Collar i. iii. 34 The ideology suitable for a nation of small capitalists persists, as if that *small-propertied world were still a going concern. |
| 1542 Recorde Gr. Artes Pref., In those *small reasoned persons [is] a certaine kind of reverence toward wisdome and reason. |
| 1780 Phil. Trans. LXX. App. p. xxxvii, I have never succeeded in killing any rabbit (even the *smallest-sized one) with it. |
| 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 854 Bodin has found on the horse a microsporon closely allied to the *small-spored fungus described by Sabouraud. 1964 M. Hynes Med. Bacteriol. (ed. 8) xxvii. 418 (caption) Ringworm of hair—Small-spored ectothrix. |
| 1830 M. Donovan Domest. Econ. II. 107 The flesh is inferior to that of the *small-tailed sheep. |
| 1640 Gataker Whitgift in Fuller's Abel Rediv. (1867) II. 203 He was a man of middle stature,..*small-timbered. |
| 1802 Phil. Trans. XCII. 350 Each row looks somewhat like a *small-toothed comb. |
| 1891 T. Hardy Let. 4 Mar. (1978) I. 230 My own occupation at present is that of correcting a bundle of miserably *small-typed proofs. 1902 Beerbohm in Sat. Rev. 15 Nov. 612/2 The authentic ‘star’..is a no greater person than small-typed, smuggled-in ‘J. M. Barrie’. |
| 1930 W. de la Mare Poems for Children 35 The *small-windowed moonlit house. 1976 Times 21 Aug. 12/3 One-storeyed, small-windowed cottages. |
b. Freq. in the specific names of animals, birds, plants, etc.
| 1884 Coues N. Amer. Birds 290 Mniotilta varia borealis, *Small-billed Creeper. |
| 1827 Griffith tr. Cuvier V. 178 Phoca Leptonyx (*Small-clawed Seal). |
| 1752 Hill Hist. Anim. 168 The *small-eared, very thin Pecten. |
| 1789 Pilkington View Derbyshire I. 439 Malva parviflora, *small-flowered, or dwarf Mallow. 1796 Withering Brit. Pl. (ed. 3) II. 507 Small-flowered Crowfoot. 1822 Hortus Angl. II. 86 Leonurus Marrubiastrum. Small-flowered Motherwort. |
| 1894 Lydekker Roy. Nat. Hist. II. 293 The *small-horned gazelle (Gazella leptoceros) of the Sudan. |
| c 1880 Cassell's Nat. Hist. II. 241 The *Small-nailed Seal (Phoca leptonyx). |
| 1803 Shaw Gen. Zool. IV. ii. 514 *Small-Scaled Labrus, Labrus Microlepidotus. 1831 Griffith tr. Cuvier IX. Syn. 63 Small scaled Zonurus, Zonurus Microlepidotus. |
| 1836 Yarrell Brit. Fishes II. 367 The *Small-spotted Dog-fish. |
| 1766 Compl. Farm. s.v. Radish 6. I 1/1 The *small topped,..the scarlet, and the long topped striped radish. |
B. absol. or as n.2 1. a. Persons or animals of small size or stature; little ones, children. (Now only with
the.)
| c 1220 Bestiary 515 in O.E. Misc., Ðe smale he wile ðus biswiken, ðe grete maiȝ he noȝt bigripen. a 1300 E.E. Psalter xvi. 16 Þar leuinges to þair smale left þai. 1388 Wyclif Matt. xviii. 6 Who so sclaundrith oon of these smale, that bileuen in me. c 1430 Syr Tryam. 1556 ‘A lytulle lower, Syr,’ seyde hee, ‘And let us smalle go wyth thee’. |
b. A child, a little one.
| 1907 W. De Morgan Alice-for-Short xxx. 300 How much can you remember of all that time, Alice? You were only a small, you know. Ibid., I wasn't such a small as all that. 1947 Forum (Johannesburg) 5 Apr. 37/1 In a dozen other ways the prefects are the right-hand men of their Housemasters and me, and many a small owes a very great debt indeed to them. 1968 Guardian 1 Apr. 7/3 Leave two smalls to the tender mercies of a baby sitter? 1981 P. Dickinson Seventh Raven vi. 75 After each performance there's always a dozen smalls wandering miserably around. |
2. Persons of low or inferior rank or position, or of little ability or attainment. Chiefly in
phr. great and small, or
small and great.
| 13.. E.E. Psalter cxviii. 130 Schirenes of þi speche lightes wit, Vnderstanding to litel [Egerton MS. smale] giues it. 13.. Cursor M. 6014 (Gött.), Þair king þai banned, gret and small. a 1400 Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. xxiii. 1152 Heil þou..Kyng of gret and smalle. c 1440 Ipomydon 96 All spake of hym, bothe grete and smalle. 1535 Coverdale Ps. cxiii. 12 Yee he blesseth all them that feare the Lorde, both small & greate. 1597 I. T. Serm. Paules Crosse 29 The cause of the smalle, as well as the greate. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 97 Quacking Mountebanks are admitted in the Bed-chambers of great and small. 1781 Cowper Truth 375 Envy, ye great, the dull, unletter'd small. |
3. † a. Little, not much. Also with
of.
Obs.| 1390 Gower Conf. II. 279 Touchende Usure I have al herd, Hou thou of love hast wonne smale. a 1425 Cursor M. 18246 (Trin.), Now is oure kyngdome fordone al Of monkynde gete we ful smal. 1444 Lydg. in Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 215 To thynke mochyl, and seyn but smal. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. i. i. 86 Small haue continuall plodders euer wonne. 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. ix. 20 Hauing small, yet doe I not complaine Of want. 1640 King & Poor North. Man 144 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 298 Let me in, Ise give thee a good single penny. I see thou wilt ha small, ere thou't doe for nought. |
| Comb. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. i. i. 253 There did I see..that vnletered small knowing soule. |
† b. by small and small, by degrees; gradually, slowly.
Obs.| 1558 T. Phaer æneid i. C ij b, He..by smal and smal doth make The Queene forget her husband dead. Ibid. vi. 128 By small and small to landward than I swamme. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, iii. ii. 198, I play the Torturer, by small and small To lengthen out the worst, that must be spoken. |
4. † a. in small or
to small, in fragments.
Obs.| a 1400–50 Alexander 1309 Quen it was smeten in small..Ilka gobet his gate glidis fra othire. a 1450 Myrc Par. Pr. 256 Leste to smale þey done hyt breke. |
b. in small (rarely
the small), on a small scale; in little. In early use in reference to painting, etc.: In miniature.
| (a) 1611 Tourneur Ath. Trag. i. ii, You have giuen me her picture in small. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 22 Oct. 1644, The Labours of Hercules in massy silver, and many incomparable pictures in small. a 1716 South Serm. (1823) III. 259 His soul; that noble copy and resemblance of its Maker, in small indeed, but [etc.]. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) II. 132 Vandyck actually made the design, but..it was executed only in small by Ph. Frutiers. |
| (b) 1765 Museum Rust. IV. lxii. 273 Let him beware of trying experiments from books, except in small. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §219 note, I have made trial of this method, both in small and in large. 1847 H. Bushnell Chr. Nurture (1861) ii. v. 316 We are infants too, men and women in the small. 1855 Browning Old Pictures in Florence xxi, Where the strong and the weak..Repeat in large what they practised in small. |
† 5. a. With
a and
pl. A small quantity or amount; a little piece, a morsel.
Obs.| 1373–4 Chaucer Compl. to his Lady 113 And ye lete me thus sterve, Yit have ye wonne ther-on but a smal. 1566 Drant Horace, Sat., Wail. Jeremiah v. L j b, That we might haue a smal of bred, our carcas to contente. 1567 ― Horace, Ep. i. x. E j, For that he will not knowe to vse and lyue vpon a small. 1624 Sanderson Serm. I. 243 Can there be greater unthankfulness, than to grudge Him a small, who hath given us all? |
b. In or after proverbial use. (Also without plural ending.) ?
Obs.| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 2366 Many smale makeþ a grete. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. §362 The prouerbe seith that manye smale maken a greet. 1542 Heywood Prov. (1867) 30. 1553 Respublica i. i. 109 Yet manye a smale makith a greate. 1602 Carew Cornwall 68 b, The stock, which by many smalls, groweth to a meetly greatnes. 1632 Lithgow Trav. vii. 305 All which are but as Suburbs to the new Caire, that of many smalles make vp a Countrey, rather then a City. 1737 Ramsay Sc. Prov. (1750) 73 Mony sma's make a great. |
c. in (or by) smalls, in small amounts, portions, or sums.
Sc.| 1529 Extr. Burgh Rec. Edinb. (1871) 8 At na personis..regrait nor by meill to sell the samyn agane in smallis. 1584 Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 649 His haill vicarage is bot tuelf pundis or thairby, pait to him in smalis, in iiis and iiiis in sum placis. 1637–50 Row Hist. Kirk (Wodrow Soc.) 287 Fifty merks (whilk he confessed..he had at sundrie tymes stollen out of the boxe in smalls). 1825 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 114 God's blessings are aye God's blessings, though they come in sma's and driblets. 1865 Glasgow Her. in Pall Mall G. 3 Aug. 10/1 Some speculating genius who saw a chance of turning a dishonest penny by retailing it in smalls. |
6. The small, slender, or narrow part
of something:
a. Of the leg.
| 1489 in Ann. Reg. (1772) Antiq. 151 After that a Gounne had borne away his foote by the small of the legge. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §15 They be two yardes longe, and as moche as the small of a mannes legge. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia (1622) 459 A long coate of white veluet, reaching to the small of his legge. 1623 Markham Cheap Husb. (ed. 3) 47 The smals of his fore-legs, vnder his knees, and for the smals of his hinder legges somewhat below the spauin ioynts. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. 32 A piece of Cotton Cloath about the small of their Leg, from the Ankle to the Calf. 1726 Swift Gulliver i. i, His Excellency, having mounted on the small of my right leg. |
| ellipt. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 645 Lon. His legge is too big for Hector. Boy. More Calfe certaine. Dum. No, he is best indued in the small. 1630 Drayton Muses Elizium Nymphall i. 107 A swelling Calfe, a Small so fine, An Ankle, round and leane. 1715 Lond. Gaz. No. 5328/4 Large Legs, the Small pretty big. |
b. Of the back (
† or belly).
| ? 1536 Latimer in Lett. Suppress. Monast. (Camden) 148, I am in a fayntt werynesse over all my body, butt cheffly in the small of my backe. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 51 The marrow of a Bul beaten and drunk, cureth the pain in the smal of the belly. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 215 ¶7 Our best Customers show but little above the Small of their Backs. 1803 Med. Jrnl. X. 528 Severe pain in the head and small of the back. 1884 Hunter & Whyte Ducats & Dau. xviii, His eyes fixed on the small of the coachman's back. |
c. Of a whale (
= the part of the tail in front of the flukes).
| 1725 Phil. Trans. XXXIII. 256 With those Fins they clasp about her Small, and so hold themselves on. 1845 Gosse Ocean v. (1849) 230 The head gradually sinks, the ‘small’ is projected from the water, and presently the ‘flukes’ of the tail are raised high in the air. 1903 Strand Mag. Nov. 536/1 His blubber..being..nine inches [thick] on the belly and six inches on the ‘small’. |
d. Of things (see
quots.).
| c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 779 Hic stilus, a smal of a pelyr. 1687 Miége Gt. Fr. Dict. ii, The Small of the Sword, le foible de l' Epée. 1847 Infantry Man. (1854) 22 The right hand grasps the small of the butt. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Small,..that part of the anchor-shank which is immediately under the stock. 1893 F. C. Selous Trav. S.E. Africa 133 Holding the small of the stock in my right hand, and the barrel in my left. |
7. the small, that which is trifling, petty, or unimportant.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 314 Al so schal þe þet schriueð him, efter þe greate, schuuen ut þet smele. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) II. 54 These pretended plans of universality,..which make her descend into the infinitely small. 1836 Emerson Nature 67 To magnify the small, to micrify the great. |
8. Small coal; slack. In recent use also
pl., varieties of small coal. Also
Comb.| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Lab. II. 83/2 Frequently they mix them up with ‘the small’ of north country coals of better quality. 1851 Greenwell Coal-trade Terms, Northumb. & Durham 48 Small Leader, a lad employed to put away small, to a stow-board, from the hewer working by separation in a narrow place. 1898 Daily News 21 Mar. 3/6 Not for some years have best steam smalls been in such demand. |
9. pl. a. Small clothes; formerly, breeches; now, underclothes.
| 1837 Dickens Pickw. xvi, A difficult process it is to bow in green velvet smalls. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair lvi, Her footman, in large plush smalls and waistcoat. 1886 Jerome Idle Th. 133 An eager, bright-eyed boy, with..dandy shoes and tight-fitting smalls. 1943 N. Coward Middle East Diary (1944) 80 Their mothers stood nearby washing out a few ‘smalls’ in the shallows. 1951 People 3 June 4/6 Most of those who do send out to the laundry still wash smalls and personal linen themselves. 1973 Guardian 12 Mar. 10/2 Not many Americans..can have a clear idea of what to use the bidet for, apart from soaking the smalls. |
b. Parcels or consignments of comparatively little weight (see
quots.). Also
attrib.| 1889 Manch. Exam. 4 May, The word ‘smalls’..is used to represent the thousands of small parcels which are daily forwarded from the warehouses of Manchester and other large cities to shopkeepers throughout the kingdom. Ibid., A firm whose ‘smalls’ traffic is very extensive. 1890 Times 4 Dec. 11/2 Then with regard to ‘smalls’, or quantities of less than 3 cwt.;..hitherto in Birmingham ‘smalls’ had been defined to be quantities less than 2 cwt. |
c. Small kinds of bread; fancy bread, rolls, etc.
‘Freq. in advertisements.’
N.E.D.| 1892 Glasgow Her. 22 Apr. 2/1 Baker..; one well up in smalls and pastry. |
d. In miscellaneous uses (see
quots.).
| 1883 Good Words July 443/1 Small broken rice, known as ‘smalls’. 1884 Pall Mall G. 13 Dec. 9/1 He saw him have several halves of whisky—‘smalls’ they were called there. a 1891 Engineer LXX. 126 (Cent.), The ore..is tipped from trucks on to a grating of iron bars about 2½ in. apart; the ‘mine smalls’ pass through. 1895 J. W. Anderson Prospector's Handbk. (ed. 6) 166 Smalls—Small-sized pieces of ore and gangue. 1919 H. Etheridge Dict. Typewriting 125 May be in either capitals and smalls or all capitals. 1947 M. Morris in ‘B. James’ Austral. Short Stories (1963) 344 Make it another small... All round. 1976 Wymondham & Attleborough Express 10 Dec. 21/2 Mediums [sc. eggs] from 46p to 43p per dozen with only smalls below this rate. |
e. Small advertisements.
| 1942 New Statesman 11 July 25/3 The members of staff usually responsible for selecting ‘smalls’ and rejecting those that are undesirable. 1959 Times 2 Dec. 9/4 The Press figure does not take into account the booming Classified advertising revenue, or ‘Smalls’. |
10. pl. At Oxford: The colloquial term for the examination officially called Responsions.
The evidence is not sufficient to show whether the name is due to the old expressions
in parvisiis or
in parviso (see
parvis 2), through association with
parvis abl. pl. of
parvus small;
cf. however the use of
parvis disputationibus in the Laudian Statutes,
App., iii. §9, p. 271.
| 1852 Bristed Five Yrs. Eng. Univ. (ed. 2) 92 The Little Go (at Oxford the Smalls). 1861 Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. x, I ought to be going up for smalls myself next term. 1880 Mrs. E. Lynn Linton Rebel of Family ii, He had been ‘ploughed’ for ‘smalls’ and everything else. |
11. the smalls, in theatrical use (see
quot. 1891).
| 1891 Ardrossan Her. 11 Sept. 4 Having travelled much through the smalls (a theatrical term applied to towns not boasting a regularly built and properly appointed theatre). 1907 H. Wyndham Flare of Footlights xxx, Wanted..Smart Young Gent to tour the smalls. |
12. small and early, a small evening party not intended to continue to a late hour.
| [1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. xi, For the clearing off of these worthies, Mrs. Podsnap added a small and early evening to the dinner.] 1880 Disraeli Endym. lxxvii, Well, there are not many dinners among them, to be sure... Small and earlies. How I hate a ‘small and early!’ 1888 H. James Partial Portraits 360 To the afternoon tea, to the fashionable ‘squash’, to the late and suffocating ‘small and early’. |
▪ III. small, adv. (
smɔːl)
Forms: 1, 4–5
smale, 5
smalle, 4–7
smal, 5–
small.
[f. small a.] 1. Into small pieces or morsels.
In some examples
perh. the
adj. used predicatively.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xiii, Þeah ðu hi smale todæle swa dust. 1381 in Knighton Chron. (Rolls) 138 Iakke Mylner..hath grounden smal smal. c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 6 Þan choppe hem smale. Ibid. 10 Tese it smal an bray it in a morter. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 278 The floures are blewe,..with five little leaves underneath them, very small cut and jagged. 1650 Trapp Comm. Levit. xvi. 12 This incens smal-beaten might figure Christ in his Agonie. 1653 Walton Angler i. iii. (1896) 57 Bruise or cut very smal into your butter, a little Time. 1759 R. Brown Compl. Farm. 81 Geese will..fatten well on carrots cut small. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 811 A quarter of an ounce avoirdupoise of the finest white soap, grated small. |
† 2. a. To a small extent or degree; little, not much; slightly.
Obs.| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints i. (Peter) 411, I dred rycht small þine angelis. c 1386 Chaucer Wife's Prol. 592, I wepte but smal. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 11 He trompit nocht small, quhen he send his Apostlis our all the warld to ger schawe the cristyn faith. 1560 Rolland Seven Sages Prol. ii, I knew small quhat hir mater did mene. 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 1273 If thou dost weep.., it small avails my mood. 1637 Strafford Lett. (1739) II. 83 But in Truth, this moves me very small. |
† b. Const.
to one's gain or profit.
Obs.| 1582 A. Munday Eng. Rom. Life 61 Promising..hee would informe the Pope of it, which should bee but small to their profite. 1587 Holinshed Chron. (1808) III. 94 The Frenchmen..sometimes made issues foorth, but small to their gaine. |
3. a. Quietly, gently; in a small or low voice.
| 13.. K. Alis. 7239 (Laud MS.), Alisaunder gynneþ leighȝe smale. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. i. ii. 49 That's all one, you shall play it in a Maske, and you may speake as small as you will. 1598 ― Merry W. i. i. 49 She has browne haire, and speakes small like a woman. 1887 Stevenson Mem. & Portraits viii, The reposing toiler, thoughtfully smoking, talking small, as if in honour of the stillness. |
† b. Slyly; wantonly.
Obs.—1| c 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 16 She helde not her astate.., for she loked smal and wynked ofte.., and euer loked ouer the shuldre. |
4. to sing small:
† a. (See
quot.)
Obs.—0| 1623 Cockeram i, Minurize, to sing small, to faine in singing. |
b. colloq. To adopt a humble tone or manner; to use less assertive language, or to qualify or withdraw a previous statement; to say nothing, to be silent or dumb.
See also the
Eng. Dial. Dict. for dialect usage.
| 1753–4 Richardson Grandison (1812) I. 120, I must myself sing small in her company; I will never meet at hard⁓edge with her. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulgar T., Sing small, to be humbled, confounded, or abashed, to have little or nothing to say for one's self. 1840 Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. ii. Row in Omnibus, Fiddle-de-dee's at the top of the tree, And Dol-drum and Fal-de-ral-tit sing small! 1880 Gladstone in Morley Life viii. vii. (1905) II. 354 Sir R. Peel endorsed the remonstrance and I had to sing small. |
5. In a fine or small manner; on a small scale, etc. Also in
small-drawn,
small-set adjs.| 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. 197 It would be no art..to spin small, and make hypocrisy a goodly web, and to go through the market as a saint among men. 1703 Lond. Gaz. No. 3944/4 Also John Simonds, a small-set Fellow. 1820 Keats Lamia ii. 47 Her open eyes, Where he was mirror'd small in paradise. a 1918 W. Owen Poems (1920) 13 And terror's first constriction over, Their hearts remain small drawn. |
6. Naut. Close to the wind.
| 1848 J. F. Cooper Oak-Openings II. xiv. 203 All the difficulty was reduced to steering so ‘small’, as seamen term it, as to prevent one or the other of the lugs from jibing. 1911 J. Barten Compl. Naut. Pocket Dict. 192 Steer small. |
▪ IV. small, v. rare.
(
smɔːl)
Also 5
smalyn,
smale.
[f. small a. Cf. OE. smaliᵹan (rare), MDu. smalen (smallen), MLG. smalen, smelen, MHG. smaln (G. dial. schmalen) and smeln (G. schmälen), older Da. smale, smalle.] 1. trans. To make small; to lessen, reduce.
rare.
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 85 Smale þe lippis of woundis þat ben greate. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 460/2 Smalyn, or make lesse, minoro. 1611 Cotgr., Apointi,..sharpened, or smalled, at the point. 1962 ‘K. Orvis’ Damned & Destroyed xiv. 95 Welch smalled his hands against his desk. |
2. intr. To become small; to diminish, grow less. Hence
ˈsmalling ppl. a.| a 1618 Sylvester Woodman's Bear liv, I saw,..Smalling down by measure's law, Her straight comely shapen back. 1665 Hooke Microgr. 36 By sucking at the smalling Pipe, more of the Air..may be suck'd out. 1899 T. Hardy Departure Poems (1902) 7 The broad bottoms rip the bearing brine—All smalling slowly to the gray sea line. |