elephants
Britishadjective
Etymology
Origin of elephants
C20: shortened from elephant's trunk, rhyming slang for drunk
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.
Elephants and rhinoceroses lived alongside bison, aurochs, horses, and deer.
From Science Daily • Feb. 12, 2026
"Craig had just turned 54 years old. He led a long life and no doubt fathered many calves," said the Amboseli Trust for Elephants in its farewell message.
From BBC • Jan. 3, 2026
Elephants are considered sacred in Sri Lanka and are protected by law, but farmers and residents in remote villages sometimes attack wild elephants that destroy crops.
From Barron's • Dec. 18, 2025
Elephants around Lake Manyara in Tanzania were killing acacia trees by ripping off bark and leaving “pale ghostly white trunks.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 30, 2025
Elephants are big but at the cost of quite thick legs, while whales are relatively immune because they’re submerged in water.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
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.
