small

Etymology

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

adj

1. Not large or big; insignificant; few in number.
   Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. 2013-06-22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70
   A small serving of ice cream.
   A small group.
   He made us all feel small.
2. (figurative, incomparable) Young, as a child.
   Remember when the children were small?
3. (writing, incomparable) Minuscule or lowercase, referring to written or printed letters.
   "I've got catholic tastes. Catholic with a small "c", of course." 1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 584
4. Humiliated or insignificant.
   The bullies had succeeded in making him feel small.
   For all the times that you made me feel small / I fell in love, now I feel nothing at all 2015, Justin Bieber, Love Yourself
5. Evincing little worth or ability; not large-minded; paltry; mean.
   A true delineation of the smallest man is capable of interesting the greatest man. 1851, Thomas Carlyle, The Life of John Sterling
6. Not prolonged in duration; not extended in time; short.
   a small space of time
7. Synonym of little (“of an industry or institution(s) therein: operating on a small scale, unlike larger counterparts”)
   small science
8. (archaic) Slender, gracefully slim.
9. (especially clothing, food or drink) That is small (the manufactured size).
   I'll have a small coffee, thanks.

adv

1. In a small fashion
   Don't write very small!
2. In or into small pieces.
   That's going to go in there. We've got some chives small chopped as well. 2009, Ingrid Hoffman, CBS Early Morning for September 28, 2009 (transcription)
3. (obsolete) To a small extent.
4. (obsolete) In a low tone; softly.

noun

1. (uncountable, especially clothing, food or drink) One of several common sizes to which an item may be manufactured.
2. (countable, especially clothing, food or drink) An item labelled or denoted as being that size.
   Two smalls and a large, please.
3. (countable, especially with respect to clothing) One who fits an item of that size.
4. (countable, rare) Any part of something that is smaller or slimmer than the rest, now usually with anatomical reference to the back.

verb

1. (obsolete, transitive) To make little or less.
2. (intransitive) To become small; to dwindle.
   And smalled till she was nought at all. 1917, Thomas Hardy, The Clock of the Years