elf

name

1. Initialism of Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmentalism group.

   “In the late 1990s, the ELF became notorious for setting fire to symbols of ecological destruction, including timber mills, an S.U.V. dealership and a ski resort.”

2. Initialism of Elvish Linguistic Fellowship, an organization that studies the invented languages of J. R. R. Tolkien.
3. Initialism of Endangered Language Fund, a non-profit organization.

noun

1. Acronym of Executable and Linking Format, a common object file format for Unix.

   “In ELF executables, there aren't a whole lot of code caves (such as in the PE format), so you are not likely to be able to shove more than just a meager amount of shellcode into existing code slots […]”

2. Initialism of extremely low frequency.
3. Acronym of English as a lingua franca (“English used by non-native speakers”).

   “The consequences of the massive volume of ELF to English taken as a whole, as the aggregate use of the language, is essentially a descriptive issue: what new features of English are emerging and taking hold?”

verb

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *albʰósder. Proto-Germanic *albiz Proto-West Germanic *albi Old English ielf Middle English elf English elf From Middle English elf, from Old English ielf, ælf, from Proto-West Germanic *albi, from Proto-Germanic *albiz. Ultimately probably derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂elbʰós (“white”). Doublet of alf, awf, and oaf. The modern fantasy literature sense was popularised by the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

1. To twist into elflocks (of hair); to mat.

   “My face I'll grime with filth, blanket my loins, elf all my hairs in knots, and with presented nakedness outface the winds and persecutions of the sky.”