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elephant ear

noun
  1. a large, flat, sugared pastry somewhat resembling an elephant's ear in shape.
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Origin of elephant ear

1905–10, for an earlier sense

elephant's-ear

[el-uh-fuh nts-eer]
noun
  1. the taro.
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Origin of elephant's-ear

An Americanism dating back to 1865–70
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for elephant ear

Historical Examples

  • In the daytime individuals were found in the axils of leaves of the elephant-ear plants (Xanthosoma).

    The Amphibians and Reptiles of Michoacn, Mxico

    William E. Duellman

  • Smilisca baudini seeks daytime retreats in bromeliads, elephant-ear plants (Xanthosoma), and beneath bark or in holes in trees.

  • She wears a red- bordered sari, and stands near an elephant-ear plant.'

    Autobiography of a YOGI

    Paramhansa Yogananda

British Dictionary definitions for elephant ear

elephant's-ear

noun
  1. any aroid plant of the genus Colocasia, of tropical Asia and Polynesia, having very large heart-shaped leaves: grown for ornament and for their edible tubersSee also taro
  2. any of various cultivated begonias with large showy leaves
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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