jumbo

[ juhm-boh ]
See synonyms for: jumbojumbos on Thesaurus.com

noun,plural jum·bos.
  1. a very large person, animal, or thing.

  1. U.S. Nautical.

    • a forestaysail having a boom (jum·bo boom ) along its foot, used especially on schooners.

    • a sail used in place of a course on a square-rigged ship, having the form of an isosceles triangle set apex downward.

    • a narrow triangular sail set point downward in place of a foresail on a topsail schooner.

adjective
  1. very large: the jumbo box of cereal.

Origin of jumbo

1
First recorded in 1800–10; origin uncertain; popularized as the name of a large elephant purchased and exhibited by P.T. Barnum in 1882

Words Nearby jumbo

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use jumbo in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for jumbo

jumbo

/ (ˈdʒʌmbəʊ) /


nounplural -bos
  1. informal

    • a very large person or thing

    • (as modifier): a jumbo box of detergent

Origin of jumbo

1
C19: after the name of a famous elephant exhibited by P. T. Barnum, from Swahili jumbe chief

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012