elephant
- either of two large, five-toed pachyderms of the family Elephantidae, characterized by a long, prehensile trunk formed of the nose and upper lip, including Loxodonta africana (African elephant), with enormous flapping ears, two fingerlike projections at the end of the trunk, and ivory tusks, and Elephas maximus (Indian elephant), with smaller ears, one projection at the end of the trunk, and ivory tusks almost exclusively in males: L. africana is threatened; E. maximus is endangered.
- a representation of this animal, used in the U.S. since 1874 as the emblem of the Republican Party.
- white elephant.
- Chiefly British. a size of drawing or writing paper, 23 × 28 inches (58 × 71 cm).
Origin of elephant
Examples from the Web for elephants
Contemporary Examples of elephants
She worked with wildlife as a volunteer in Peru and the Galapagos; she worked with elephants in Thailand, at a zoo in Australia.
Let’s Free Stacey Addison, The Oregon Woman Jailed at the Ends of the EarthChristopher Dickey
October 30, 2014
And elephants do occasionally use their trunks as snorkels while swimming.
Africans are the park rangers protecting the elephants and other wildlife from violent criminal poaching networks.
“We can only save African elephants if China and Japan ban the ivory trade,” Thornton told me.
Beijing claims to oppose the illicit traffic in the tusks of elephants butchered by poachers.
Historical Examples of elephants
The white posts of which the fence was made were elephants' tusks!
The Leopard WomanStewart Edward White
The elephants were examining the bundles that had been thrown down.
The Cat of BubastesG. A. Henty
The crowd of people were chiefly occupied in looking at the elephants.
Rollo in ParisJacob Abbott
And the animals that I like to see most, I believe, are the elephants and the camels.
Where Half The World Is Waking UpClarence Poe
The elephants of Rangoon are as fascinating as the camels of Peking.
Where Half The World Is Waking UpClarence Poe
elephants
- Australian slang drunk; intoxicated
Word Origin for elephants
elephant
- either of the two proboscidean mammals of the family Elephantidae . The African elephant (Loxodonta africana) is the larger species, with large flapping ears and a less humped back than the Indian elephant (Elephas maximus), of S and SE Asia
- mainly British a size of writing paper, 23 by 28 inches
- elephant in the room an obvious truth deliberately ignored by all parties in a situation
Word Origin for elephant
Word Origin and History for elephants
elephant
c.1300, olyfaunt, from Old French oliphant (12c.), from Latin elephantus, from Greek elephas (genitive elephantos) "elephant, ivory," probably from a non-Indo-European language, likely via Phoenician (cf. Hamitic elu "elephant," source of the word for it in many Semitic languages, or possibly from Sanskrit ibhah "elephant").
Re-spelled after 1550 on Latin model. As an emblem of the Republican Party in U.S. politics, 1860. To see the elephant "be acquainted with life, gain knowledge by experience" is an American English colloquialism from 1835.
elephant
A symbol (see also symbol) of the Republican party, introduced in a series of political cartoons by Thomas Nast during the congressional elections of 1874. (Compare donkey.)
Idioms and Phrases with elephants
elephant
see see the elephant; white elephant.