chryselephantine

[ kris-el-uh-fan-tin, -tahyn ]

/ ˌkrɪs ɛl əˈfæn tɪn, -taɪn /

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adjective

made of or overlaid with gold and ivory, as certain objects made in ancient Greece.

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Origin of chryselephantine

1820–30; <Greek chrȳselephántinos, equivalent to chrȳs-chrys- + elephántinos (elephant-, stem of eléphāselephant, ivory + -inos-ine¹

Words nearby chryselephantine

chrys-, chrysalid, chrysalis, chrysanthemum, chrysarobin, chryselephantine, Chryse Planitia, Chrysippus, Chrysler, chryso-, chrysoberyl

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use chryselephantine in a sentence

The chryselephantine papal standard rises high, surrounded by pennons of the civic flag.
Ulysses|James Joyce
All three wrought in chryselephantine gold and ivory; the gold with flowing pallid highlights.
Zero Data|Charles Saphro
In sculpture he favours the use of varicoloured materials in the manner of the Greek chryselephantine sculpture.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 15, Slice 8|Various
There are Chryselephantine statues, but no purely elephantine ones.
Utopia of Usurers and other Essays|Gilbert Keith Chesterton

The great statue of Athene by Phidias was of this "Chryselephantine" work.
The Expositor's Bible: The First Book of Kings|F. W. Farrar

British Dictionary definitions for chryselephantine

chryselephantine

/ (ˌkrɪsɛlɪˈfæntɪn) /

adjective

(of ancient Greek statues) made of or overlaid with gold and ivory

Word Origin for chryselephantine

C19: from Greek khruselephantinos, from khrusos gold + elephas ivory; see elephant

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