elephant ear
Americannoun
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Also elephant's-ear any of various plants with very large, sturdy leaves shaped somewhat like an elephant’s ear in shape, especially a plant of the arum family (Aracea), including caladium, malanga, and taro.
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Cooking.
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a large, flat, sugared pastry made from fried dough, somewhat resembling an elephant's ear.
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Etymology
Origin of elephant ear
First recorded in 1865–70 elephant ear for def. 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They have very specific things I need for Vietnamese cooking, like fish sauce, noodles and herbs, like rice paddy herb, elephant ear plant and Vietnamese coriander.
From New York Times • Dec. 24, 2021
In another corner of the garden, I excavated a 5-foot-square patch of rich soil and put in a load of elephant ear bulbs, which I had overwintered.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 7, 2021
She promptly got a call from a school administrator, and before the day was out, she had packed some clothes and her elephant ear fish, Dumbo, and moved into quarantine housing.
From New York Times • May 17, 2021
They planted these with color: hebe shrubs of varying leaf colors, grasses, echinacea and elephant ear plants, which display oversize, arrow-shaped leaves.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 14, 2021
From where I stood, the moon bloomed like a giant elephant ear off the side of his head.
From "Tradition" by Brendan Kiely
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.