mammoth
[ mam-uh th ]
/ ˈmæm əθ /
noun
any large, elephantlike mammal of the extinct genus Mammuthus, from the Pleistocene Epoch, having hairy skin and ridged molar teeth.
adjective
immensely large; huge; enormous: a mammoth organization.
RELATED CONTENT
RELATED WORDS
enormous, colossal, monstrous, vast, large, immense, monumental, massive, prodigious, gigantic, gargantuan, high, giant, leviathan, elephantine, jumbo, long, mighty, mountainous, stupendous
Nearby words
- mammography,
- mammon,
- mammonism,
- mammoplasty,
- mammose,
- mammoth cave national park,
- mammotomy,
- mammotropic,
- mammula,
- mammy
Origin of mammoth
1690–1700; < Russian mam(m)ot (now mámont), first used in reference to remains of the animal found in Siberia; origin uncertain
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for mammoth
mammoth
/ (ˈmæməθ) /
noun
any large extinct elephant of the Pleistocene genus Mammuthus (or Elephas), such as M. primigenius (woolly mammoth), having a hairy coat and long curved tusks
adjective
of gigantic size or importance
Word Origin for mammoth
C18: from Russian mamot, from Tatar mamont, perhaps from mamma earth, because of a belief that the animal made burrows
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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mammoth
1706, from Russian mammot', probably from Ostyak, a Finno-Ugric language of northern Russia (cf. Finnish maa "earth"). Because the remains were dug from the earth, the animal was believed to root like a mole. As an adjective, "gigantic," from 1802; in this sense "the word appears to be originally American" [Thornton, "American Glossary"], and its first uses are in derogatory accounts to the cheese wheel, more than 4 feet in diameter, sent to President Jefferson by the ladies of the Baptist congregation in Cheshire, Mass., as a present, engraved with the motto "Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God." Federalist editors mocked the affair, and called up the word mammoth (known from Peale's exhibition) to characterize it.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
mammoth
[ măm′əth ]
Any of various extinct elephants of the genus Mammuthus, having long, upwardly curving tusks and thick hair. Mammoths grew to great size and lived throughout the Northern Hemisphere during the Ice Age.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
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