7  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Little  \Lit"tle\,  n. 
  1.  That  which  is  little;  a  small  quantity,  amount,  space,  or 
  the  like 
 
  Much  was  in  little  writ.  --Dryden. 
 
  There  are  many  expressions,  which  carrying  with  them 
  no  clear  ideas,  are  like  to  remove  but  little  of  my 
  ignorance.  --Locke. 
 
  2.  A  small  degree  or  scale;  miniature.  ``  His  picture  in 
  little.''  --Shak. 
 
  A  little,  to  or  in  a  small  degree;  to  a  limited 
  extent;  somewhat;  for  a  short  time.  ``  Stay  a 
  little.''  --Shak. 
 
  The  painter  flattered  her  a  little.  --Shak. 
 
 
  {By  little  and  little},  or  {Little  by  little},  by  slow 
  degrees;  piecemeal;  gradually. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Little  \Lit"tle\,  a.  [The  regular  comparative  of  this  word  is 
  wanting,  its  place  being  supplied  by  less  or  rarely, 
  lesser.  See  {Lesser}.  For  the  superlative  least  is  used  the 
  regular  form  littlest,  occurring  very  rarely,  except  in  some 
  of  the  English  provinces,  and  occasionally  in  colloquial 
  language.  ``  Where  love  is  great,  the  littlest  doubts  are 
  fear.''  --Shak.]  [OE.  litel,  lutel,  AS  l?tel,  l[=i]tel,  l?t; 
  akin  to  OS  littil  D.  luttel  LG  l["u]tt,  OHG.  luzzil  MHG. 
  l["u]tzel;  and  perh.  to  AS  lytig  deceitful,  lot  deceit, 
  Goth.  liuts  deceitful,  lut?n  to  deceive;  cf  also  Icel. 
  l[=i]till  little,  Sw  liten,  Dan.  liden,  lille,  Goth. 
  leitils  which  appear  to  have  a  different  root  vowel.] 
  1.  Small  in  size  or  extent;  not  big  diminutive;  --  opposed 
  to  {big}  or  {large};  as  a  little  body;  a  little  animal;  a 
  little  piece  of  ground;  a  little  hill;  a  little  distance; 
  a  little  child. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Little  \Lit"tle\,  adv 
  In  a  small  quantity  or  degree;  not  much  slightly;  somewhat; 
  --  often  with  a  preceding  it  ``  The  poor  sleep  little.'' 
  --Otway. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Little  \Lit"tle\,  a. 
 
  {Little  Englander},  an  Englishman  opposed  to  territorial 
  expansion  of  the  British  Empire.  See  {Antiimperialism}, 
  above.  Hence: 
 
  {Little  Englandism}. 
 
  {Little-neck  clam},  or  {Little  neck}  (Zo["o]l.),  the  quahog, 
  or  round  clam. 
 
  {Little  peach},  a  disease  of  peaches  in  which  the  fruit  is 
  much  dwarfed,  and  the  leaves  grow  small  and  thin.  The 
  cause  is  not  known 
 
  {Little  Rhod"y},  Rhode  Island;  --  a  nickname  alluding  to  its 
  small  size.  It  is  the  smallest  State  of  the  United  States. 
 
 
  {Little  Sisters  of  the  Poor}  (R.  C.  Ch.),  an  order  of  women 
  who  care  for  old  men  and  women  and  infirm  poor,  for  whom 
  special  houses  are  built.  It  was  established  at  St 
  Servan,  Britany,  France,  in  1840,  by  the  Abb['e]  Le 
  Pailleur. 
 
  {Little  slam}  (Bridge  Whist),  the  winning  of  12  out  of  the  13 
  tricks.  It  counts  20  points  on  the  honor  score.  Living 
  picture  \Liv"ing  pic"ture\ 
  A  tableau  in  which  persons  take  part  also  specif.,  such  a 
  tableau  as  imitating  a  work  of  art. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  little 
  adj  1:  limited  or  below  average  in  number  or  quantity  or  magnitude 
  or  extent;  "a  little  dining  room";  "a  small  house"; 
  "read  the  small  print";  "a  little  (or  small)  group" 
  [syn:  {small}]  [ant:  {large},  {large}] 
  2:  (quantifier  used  with  mass  nouns)  small  in  quantity  or 
  degree;  not  much  or  almost  none  or  (with  "a)  at  least 
  some  "little  rain  fell  in  May";  "gave  it  little  thought"; 
  "little  hope  remained";  "little  time  is  left";  "we  still 
  have  little  money";  "a  little  hope  remained";  "a  little 
  time  isleft"  [syn:  {little(a)}]  [ant:  {much(a)}] 
  3:  of  short  duration;  "a  brief  stay  in  the  country";  "in  a 
  little  while"  [syn:  {brief}] 
  4:  very  young;  "a  little  child";  "small  children"  [syn:  {small}] 
  5:  of  little  importance  or  influence  or  power;  of  minor  status; 
  "a  minor,  insignificant  bureaucrat";  "the  little  man"; 
  "peanut  politicians";  "a  crowd  of  small  writers  had  vainly 
  attempted  to  rival  Addison"-  Macaulay  [syn:  {insignificant}, 
  {peanut},  {small}] 
  6:  (informal  terms)  small  and  of  little  importance;  "a  fiddling 
  sum  of  money";  "a  footling  gesture";  "our  worries  are 
  lilliputian  compared  with  those  of  countries  that  are  at 
  war";  "a  little  (or  small)  matter";  "a  dispute  over 
  niggling  details";  "limited  to  petty  enterprises"; 
  "piffling  efforts";  "giving  a  police  officer  a  free  meal 
  may  be  against  the  law,  but  it  seems  to  be  a  picayune 
  infraction"  [syn:  {fiddling},  {footling},  {lilliputian},  {niggling}, 
  {piddling},  {piffling},  {petty},  {picayune},  {trivial}] 
  7:  (of  a  voice)  faint;  "a  little  voice";  "a  still  small  voice" 
  [syn:  {small}] 
  8:  contemptibly  narrow  in  outlook;  "a  little  mind  consumed  with 
  trivia";  "petty  little  comments";  "disgusted  with  the 
  pettiness  of  small  minds"  [syn:  {petty},  {small},  {small-minded}] 
  9:  younger  and  (at  least  formerly)  smaller  than  another  though 
  relative  size  is  not  the  issue;  "little  brother"  [syn:  {little(a)}, 
  {younger}]  [ant:  {big(a)}] 
  10:  lowercase;  "little  a";  "small  a";  "e.e.cummings's  poetry  is 
  written  all  in  minuscule  letters"  [syn:  {minuscule},  {small}] 
  11:  used  of  persons  or  behavior;  characterized  by  or  indicative 
  of  lack  of  generosity;  "a  small  miserly  man"  [syn:  {mean}, 
  {mingy},  {miserly},  {small},  {tight}] 
  n  :  a  small  amount  or  duration;  "he  accepted  the  little  they 
  gave  him" 
  adv  :  not  much  "he  talked  little  about  his  family" 
 
  From  U.S.  Gazetteer  (1990)  [gazetteer]: 
 
  Little,  KY 
  Zip  code(s):  41346 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  LITTLE 
 
  A  typeless  language  used  to  produce  machine-independent 
  software.  LITTLE  has  been  used  to  implement  SETL. 
 
  "Guide  to  the  LITTLE  Language",  D.  Shields,  LITTLE  Newsletter 
  33,  Courant  Inst  (Aug  1977). 
 
 

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