elephant ear

noun

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

Nearby words

eleoptene, elepaio, elephant, elephant bird, elephant butte, elephant ear, elephant fish, elephant folio, elephant grass, elephant gun, elephant man's disease

Origin of elephant ear

1905–10, for an earlier sense

Definition for elephant ear (2 of 2)

elephant's-ear

[ el-uh-fuh nts-eer ]

/ ˈɛl ə fəntsˌɪər /

noun

the taro.

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for elephant ear

Smilisca baudini seeks daytime retreats in bromeliads, elephant-ear plants (Xanthosoma), and beneath bark or in holes in trees.
Neotropical Hylid Frogs, Genus Smilisca|William E. Duellman
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
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

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

any of various cultivated begonias with large showy leaves

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