little

(lit’1), a. and ”.; compavr. le , superl. least (rarely, and only in modern obs. or dial. use, littler, littlest). [ little Man wants but Jittle here below, Nor wants that little long. Goldsmith, The Hermit. A little, somewhat; to or in a small degree; toa limited extent; for a short time. Lenge a lyttel with thy lede, I logly biseche. Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), ii, 614. Here is her picture: let me see; I think, If I had such a tire, this face of mine Were full as lovely as is this of hers: And yet the painter flattered her a little. Shak., T. G. of V., iv. 4. 192. Pray stay a little, my lord. Shak., 1 Hen. IV., ii. 4. 63. By little and little, by slow degrees; gradually.—In little, on a small scale; within a small compa ; in miniature: as, the history of one’s life in Jittle. Those that would make mows at him while my father lived give twenty, forty, fifty, an hundred ducats a-piece for his picture én Jittle, Shak., Hamlet, ii. 2. 384. Into littlet, very near; almost. For which we han so sorwed, he and I, That into Litel both it hadde us slawe. Chaucer, Troilus, iv, 884. Not a little, considerably.—To make little of. See makel