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elephant definition

el·ephant (el′ə fənt)

noun pl. elephants -·phants or elephant -·phant

any of an order (Proboscidea) of huge, thick-skinned, almost hairless mammals, the largest of extant four-footed animals, with a long, flexible snout (called a trunk) and, usually, two ivory tusks growing out of the upper jaw: the two existing species are the Asiatic (or Indian) elephant (Elephas maximus), which is commonly domesticated and is an endangered species, and the African elephant (Loxodonta africana), which has a flatter head and larger ears

Etymology: ME elefaunt < L elephantus < Gr elephas (gen. elephantos), elephant, ivory < ? Berber elu, elephant + Egypt Ȝbw, elephant, ivory

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Alternate definitions:

business elephant definition - business

idioms elephant idiom

elephant Usage Examples

Adjective modifier

  • captive: This was in response to the untimely death of Pole Pole, a young captive elephant.

Modifies a noun

  • tusk: Showing a man in patterned robes seated under an umbrella with two elephant tusks at his feet.

Noun used with modifier

  • bull: He stepped onto the stage and light a joint which would have wasted a bull elephant.

Possessives

  • trunk: The curtains were much more effective in practice than the old elephant's trunk.
elephant usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

elephant quotes

He thought he saw an Elephant, That practised on a fife: He looked again, and found it was A letter from his wife. 'At length I realize,' he said 'The bitterness of life!'

-Dodgson

Nature's great masterpiece, an Elephant.

-Donne,John

And the elephant sings deep in the forest-maze About a star of deathless and painless peace But no astronomer can find where it is.

-Hughes,Ted (Edward James)

elephant quotes (more)

Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations Copyright © 2005 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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"elephant." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 5 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/elephant>

APA Style

elephant. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 5th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/elephant

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