elephantn.

Brit.

/ˈɛlᵻf(ə)nt/, U.S.

/ˈɛləfənt/

Forms: Middle English elifans, Middle English ele-, elyphaunt(e, Middle English elefaunte, 1500s eliphant, Middle English–1500s elephante, 1500s– elephant. See also oliphant n.

Etymology: < classical Latin elephant- (nominative elephantus , elephas , elephans ) < ancient Greek ἐλέϕαντ- , ἐλέϕας ivory, elephant. This word replaced both oliphant n., borrowed into early Middle English from Old French, and the even earlier elp n., derived from an Old English borrowing.Although the reflex of classical Latin elephant- is attested in Old French, it is very rare before the 15th cent., olifant being the usual Old French form; the English equivalent is therefore probably a direct borrowing < Latin. It is noteworthy that both elifans and olyfont are found in the Ayenbite (1340). Of the ultimate etymology nothing is really known. The Greek word is found in the sense ‘ivory’ in Homer and Hesiod; a loan from Asia Minor seems plausible, as this was a flourishing centre of the ivory trade in the second millennium. The resemblance in sound to Hebrew eleph ‘ox’ has given rise to a suggestion of derivation from some Phoenician or Punic compound of that word. Loans < Egyptian or Sanskrit are probably to be rejected on phonetic grounds. For the possible relation to this word of the Germanic and Slavonic name for ‘camel’, see olfend n.

a. A huge quadruped of the Pachydermate order, having long curving ivory tusks, and a prehensile trunk or proboscis. Of several species once distributed over the world, including Britain, only two now exist, the African and Indian; the former is the largest of extant land animals, and the latter is often used as a beast of burden, and in war.

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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > order Proboscidea (elephants) > [noun] > elephant

elpc1000

oliphantc1275

elephant1340

carry-castle1599

hathi1838

Lucanian ox1863

Lucanian cow1879

heffalump1926

the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > order Proboscidea (elephants) > [noun] > elephant > elephas maximus (Indian elephant)

elephant1340

Indian elephant1555

white elephant1555

1340 Ayenbite (1866) 224 Þe elifans nele naȝt wonye mid his wyue, þerhuyle þet hi is mid childe.

1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomew de Glanville De Proprietatibus Rerum (1495) v. xxviii. 138 The elyphaunt hath a longe nose lyke a trompe.

1430 J. Lydgate tr. Hist. Troy ii. xi Elyphauntes and large Unicornes..Forged of brasse.

1555 R. Eden Two Viages into Guinea in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 354 The elephante (which sum caule an oliphant) is the biggest of all foure footed beastes.

1570 B. Googe tr. T. Kirchmeyer Popish Kingdome ii. f. 24^v Of Flyes they able are to make, great Eliphants in sight.

1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida ii. iii. 104 The Elephant hath ioynts, but none for courtesie.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iv. 345 Th' unwieldy Elephant To make them mirth..wreathd His Lithe Proboscis.

1744 J. Thomson Summer in Seasons (new ed.) 84 The huge Elephant: wisest of Brutes!

1857 D. Livingstone Missionary Trav. S. Afr. xxviii. 563 Full-grown male elephants..ranged in height at the withers from 9 feet 9 inches to 9 feet 10 inches.

b. figurative of a man of huge stature.

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1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida ii. iii. 2 Shall the Elephant Aiax carry it thus?

c. elephant's teeth (i.e. tusks): ivory.

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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > order Proboscidea (elephants) > [noun] > elephant > parts of > tusk(s) > ivory

elephant's teetha1398

elephant?1615

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xiv. xxxiii. 712 Salomons seruantes brouȝte golde and siluer, apes and pocockes, elephantes teethe.

1657 R. Ligon True Hist. Barbados 2 A Friggot..her loading Gold and Elephants teeth.

d. to see the elephant (U.S. slang): to see life, the world, or the sights (as of a large city); to get experience of life, to gain knowledge by experience. Also to show or get a look at the elephant. (Cf. lion n. 4.)

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1835 A. B. Longstreet Georgia Scenes 10 That's sufficient, as Tom Haynes said when he saw the elephant.]

1844 G. W. Kendall Narr. Santa Fé Exped. I. 108 There is a cant expression, ‘I've seen the elephant’ in very common use in Texas.

1847 W. T. Porter Quarter Race Kentucky 87 I axed him if he'd ever seen the elephant.

1849 N. Kingsley Diary (1914) 86 [I] went up town and saw the Elephant, and it almost baffles description.

1849 T. T. Johnson Sights Gold Region 324 If you think we have not shown you enough of the elephant..please to mount him and take a view for yourself.

1857 O. W. Wight Quinland II. ii. xviii. 126 The ‘Fox and Crow’ is one of the famous sights in New York. It is never missed by the countryman or the foreigner, who is searching after the ‘elephant’.

1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds iii. 45 My friend Will Wylie, who had seen the elephant in its entirety, from trunk to tail.

1906 ‘O. Henry’ Four Million 87 He makes his rounds every evening, while you and I see the elephant once a week.

1960 T. V. Olsen High Lawless (1961) iii. 30 Saturdays some of the boys from the three big outfits come in to see the elephant.

e. As the emblem of the Republican party in the United States.

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1860 Railsplitter in Sperber & Trittschuh Amer. Pol. Terms (1962) 141/2 Woodcut: elephant..announcing a Lincoln demonstration.

1874 Harper's Weekly XVIII. 912 (caption under an elephant) The Republican Vote.]

1876 Harper's Weekly 28 Oct. 868 (caption) ‘The elephant walks around’—and the ‘still hunt’ is nearly over.

1904 Chicago Tribune 20 June 6 The selection..will..handicap the republic elephant in the coming race.

1952 Economist 12 July 89/1 It would now take some sort of a miracle for Mr. Taft to catch the Republican elephant.

f. In full elephant-colour: a fashion shade simulating the grey colour of the elephant. Cf. elephant-grey n. at Compounds 2 below.

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the world > matter > colour > named colours > grey or greyness > [noun] > other greys

mode1868

elephant1875

zinc-grey1881

elephant-grey1896

peacock-grey1935

the world > matter > colour > named colours > grey or greyness > [adjective] > other greys

pewtery1776

elephant1875

desert-grey1901

1875 All Year Round 278/1 So admirably is elephant-colour copied.

1894 Queen 6 Oct. 574/1 The shade of cloth used..being known as ‘Elephant’.

1923 Daily Mail 7 June 6 In Almond Green,..Mole, Elephant, Honey.

2. As the sign of an inn; the modern ‘Elephant and Castle’.

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the world > food and drink > drink > drinking > drinking place > [noun] > tavern or public house > tavern sign

lion?a1366

ale stake1396

ivy14..

sunc1400

tokenc1440

eagle1449

chequerc1460

wisp?1507

Saracen's head1510

ale-pole1523

bush1532

wine garland1533

ivy-garland1553

tavern-bush1553

lattice1575

ivy-bush1576

alebush1599

red lattice1604

elephanta1616

sagittarya1616

grate1622

wine-bush1638

popinjay1687

a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) iii. iii. 39 In the South Suburbes at the Elephant Is best to lodge.

1853 C. Dickens Bleak House xxvii. 270 The far-famed Elephant who has lost his Castle.

†3. Ivory [after Latin elephantus].

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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > order Proboscidea (elephants) > [noun] > elephant > parts of > tusk(s) > ivory

elephant's teetha1398

elephant?1615

?1615 G. Chapman tr. Homer Odysses (new ed.) xix. 77 A chair..The substance silver and rich elephant.

1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 285 Heavy Gold, and polish'd Elephant.

1726 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey V. xxi. 10 The handle..With steel and polish'd elephant adorn'd.

4. A Danish Order of Knighthood.

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1703 London Gaz. No. 3895/2 The King of Denmark conferred the Order of the Elephant upon the Duke of Mecklembourg.

1751 Chambers's Cycl. (ed. 7) Its badge..is an elephant, with a castle on its back, set with diamonds, and hung on a watered sky-coloured ribband, like the George in England... In 1189..a gentleman among the Danish croisees killed an elephant; in memory of which..the order was erected.

1837 Penny Cycl. VIII. 401/1 The orders of knighthood [in Denmark] are the order of the Elephant, etc.

5. sea elephant n. a species of Seal ( Macrorhinus proboscideus), the males of which have the snout somewhat prolonged.

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1798 in Naval Chron. (1799) 1 254 The sea elephant..has been rather scarce.

1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 165 Macrorhinus proboscideus..Sea-Elephant and Elephant-Seal of the English.

†6. A species of lizard mentioned by Pliny. Obsolete.

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the world > animals > reptiles > order Squamata (lizards and snakes) > suborder Lacertilia (lizards) > [noun] > unspecified and miscellaneous types

provincial1575

elephant1601

roquet1666

scorpion-lizard1709

Guernsey lizard1769

geitje1786

pleodont1840

ngarara1843

sleepy lizard1883

tucktoo1896

1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 451 Black Elephants..which be the black kind of the Lizards.

1608 E. Topsell Hist. Serpents 176 There be..Serpents called Elephants, because whomsoeuer they bite, they infect with a kind of a leprosie.

†7. [after Portuguese elephante : see elephanta n.] ‘A name given originally by the Portuguese to violent storms occurring at the termination, though some travellers describe it as at the setting in, of the Monsoon’ (Yule). Obsolete.

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the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > bad weather > [noun] > stormy weather > a storm > violent storm > specific types

hurricane1555

typhoon1588

oliphant1616

elephant1702

elephanta1725

typhon1783

tropical storm1809

tropical cyclone1852

hustler1882

hurricano-

1554 Sidi' Ali 75 The kind of storm is known under the name of the Elephant; it blows from the west.]

1702 R. Neve Apopiroscopy Prolegomenon sig. b6^v Eighthly, Of Winds, and Storms at Sea; as Trades-Winds, Huricanes,..Elephants, Monsoons.

8. Botany. A species of Scabious.

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1847 in J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words

1878 J. Britten & R. Holland Dict. Eng. Plant-names

a. (more fully elephant-paper). A size of drawing and cartridge paper measuring 28 × 23 inches. double elephant: a similar paper measuring 40 × 26½ inches.

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society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > equipment for painting or drawing > [noun] > surface for painting or drawing > paper > specific size

elephant1702

Atlas1712

1702 London Gaz. No. 3814/4 On two large sheets of Elephant Paper.

1716 London Gaz. No. 5493/4 The fine Imperial will not be sold under 7l...and the Elephant 3l.

?1790 J. Imison School of Arts (ed. 2) 238 A sheet of the largest elephant paper.

a1807 J. Opie Lect. on Painting (1809) 146 Writing..upon..double elephant..paper.

1870 W. S. Jevons Elem. Lessons Logic iv. 35 Elephant in a stationer's..shop means a large kind of paper.

1880 Daily Tel. 3 Dec. ‘Elephant folio’..that is to say, of the fullest portfolio size.

b. Army slang. (See quots. 1925, 1943.)

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society > armed hostility > defence > defensive work(s) > earthwork or rampart > [noun] > trench > shelter in trench

dugout1904

tamboo1916

elephant1917

glory-hole1925

1917 A. G. Empey From Fire Step 152 One gun..had the exact range of our ‘elephant’ dug-out entrance.

1919 War Terms in Athenæum 15 Aug. 759/1 Elephant, corrugated iron shelter. Baby elephant, small corrugated iron shelter.

1919 G. K. Rose 2/4th Oxf. & Bucks Light Infantry 10 Battalion Headquarters..were comfortable enough with many ‘elephant’ dug-outs and half a farm~house for a mess.

1925 E. Fraser & J. Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words Elephant (and Baby Elephant) Dug-Out: a dug-out made with semi-circular linings of heavy corrugated iron. The two names refer to the two sizes issued.

1943 J. L. Hunt & A. G. Pringle Service Slang 30 Elephant hut, a Nissen hut (shaped somewhat like the beast).

Compounds

C1. General attributive.

elephant bell n.

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1923 D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers (London ed.) 170 The elephant bells striking slow, tong-tong, tong-tong.

elephant-horn n.

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1884 19th Cent. Feb. 252 A dozen elephant-horns heralded forth that the royal party were in motion.

elephant house n.

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1895 C. J. Cornish Life at Zoo 7 The Elephant and Antelope Houses.

1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. vi. [Hades] 90 A tall blackbearded figure..stumping round the corner of Elvery's elephant house.

1943 J. L. Hunt & A. G. Pringle Service Slang 30 Elephant houses, old forts at Dunkirk.

elephant-keeper n.

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1799 J. Corse in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 89 210 Besides these, the elephant-keepers notice other varieties, which are less distinct.

elephant-killer n.

ΚΠ

1608 E. Topsell Hist. Serpents 156 Neither haue they any other name for those dragons but Elephant-killers.

elephant-shed n.

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1859 J. Lang Wanderings in India 261 Her tomb..had been taken away bodily, to pave the elephant shed.

elephant-headed adj.

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1854 F. Hall Rája-níti Notes 1 Elephant-headed..Ganesa, fulfil my desires.

elephant-like adj.

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the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > largeness > [adjective] > of large volume or bulky > and clumsy

unridec1175

un-i-weldec1275

boistous?a1400

cumbrousa1400

roida1450

clubbishc1530

lumpish?1573

bouncing1579

unwieldy1582

boisterous1590

unfeirdyc1590

lumbering1593

cumbersome1594

elephantic1598

elephant-likea1603

moliminous1642

clumpish1681

rhinocerical1689

hulking1699

hulky1785

lumberly1805

elephantine1826

rhinocerial1828

lumbersome1834

clumpy1836

lumbrous1836

hippopotamic1853

hippopotamian1864

megatherial1894

hippopotamine1911

a1603 T. Cartwright Confut. Rhemists New Test. (1618) 500 Your knees..are ioyntlesse and Elephant-like in your obedience unto his precepts.

C2.

elephant-bed n. (see quot.).

ΚΠ

1887 H. B. Woodward Geol. Eng. & Wales 519 The Elephant Bed [at Brighton] first described by Dr. Mantell is provincially termed Combe rock..it contains remains of Elephas primigenius, etc.

elephant-beetle n. some South American beetle, probably Dynastes Neptunus; the name has also been applied to the African species Goliathus giganteus and G. cacicus.

ΚΠ

1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VIII. 139 The Elephant-beetle..is found in..Guiana and Surinam.

1777 Henly in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 67 123 Thigh of the elephant beetle.

elephant bird n. a large fossil bird of the genus Æpyornis, found in Madagascar.

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the world > animals > birds > unspecified and miscellaneous birds > [noun] > extinct or fossil > extinct or fossil types

moa1839

Dinornis1843

Aepyornis1851

Archaeopteryx1862

Hesperornis1871

ichthyornis1872

elephant bird1889

mamo1891

1889 Cent. Dict. Elephant-bird.

1933 A. S. Romer Vertebr. Paleontol. x. 214 In Madagascar lived a number of species of ‘elephant-birds’.

1969 New Scientist 13 Mar. 20/1 The peculiar and often bizarre forms evolved in isolation: species such as..the elephant-bird in Madagascar.

elephant-fish n. (see quot.).

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the world > animals > fish > subclass Holocephali > [noun] > member of family Chimaeridae > chimaera callorhynchus (elephant-fish)

elephant-fish1777

1777 J. Cook Jrnl. 27 Jan. (1967) III. i. 51 Fish..known to Seamen by the name of Elephant fish.

1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Elephant-fish, the Chimæra callorhynchus named from the proboscis-like process on its nose.

elephant-gravel n. gravel containing remains of elephants.

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1852 E. Forbes Let. in Life Forbes xiv. 505 The newer elephant-gravel of these parts.

elephant-grey n. = sense 1f.

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the world > matter > colour > named colours > grey or greyness > [noun] > other greys

mode1868

elephant1875

zinc-grey1881

elephant-grey1896

peacock-grey1935

1896 Daily News 12 Sept. 6/2 ‘Elephant’ grey is another favourite.

1906 Westm. Gaz. 7 Apr. 18/2 A tailor suit of elephant-grey facecloth.

1921 G. Jekyll Colour Schemes for Flower Garden 2 The trunks of the Spanish Chestnuts are elephant-grey.

1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. viii. [Lestrygonians] 148 Molly had that elephantgrey dress with the braided frogs.

elephant hawkmoth n. (see quot.).

ΚΠ

1879 J. Lubbock Sci. Lect. ii. 52 Chærocampa elpenor, the elephant hawk-moth.

elephant joke n. a child's nonsense riddle of which an elephant (usually in a ridiculous situation) is the subject: (see quot. 1984).

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the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > causing laughter > [noun] > jest or pleasantry > a jest or joke > other types of jest or joke

dry biscuit jest1600

kniff-knaff1683

private joke1789

jokelet1847

inside joke1849

wheeze1864

one-liner1904

lavatory joke1931

lavatory humour1935

sight gag1957

cruellie1959

in-joke1964

elephant joke1966

1966 C. Williams Don't just stand There (1967) 148 Well, hell, do isometric exercises, tell elephant jokes, write postcards.

1976 Daily Mirror 11 Mar. 12/2 They should chew gum and tell elephant jokes and experiment with lipstick and play their transistor radios very loudly indeed.

1984 T. Augarde Oxf. Guide Word Games i. 13 How can you tell if an elephant has been in your fridge? Footprints in the butter. The last of these [riddles] is obviously modern—and a typical example of the craze for ‘elephant’ jokes which existed in the 1970s.

elephant-leg n. = elephantiasis n.

elephant-paper n. (see 9).

elephant-path n. a path trodden by elephants.

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1853 Edinb. New Philos. Jrnl. 55 79 Passages made formerly by the gigantic elephant, which are well adapted for bridle-paths... The knowledge of these various elephant-paths forms the resource of the marauding Caffre.

elephant-rain n. (see quot.).

ΚΠ

1895 R. Kipling Second Jungle Bk. 215 A light spring rain—elephant-rain they call it—drove across the Jungle.

elephant's breath n. a shade of colour, light steel grey.

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the world > matter > colour > named colours > grey or greyness > [noun] > light grey

elephant's breath1884

mist1926

1884 Cassell's Family Mag. Mar. 246/2 Dressed in grey, the shade known as ‘elephant's breath’.

elephant-seal n. = sea elephant n. at sense 5.

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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Pinnipedia (seal, sea lion, or walrus) > [noun] > family Phocidae > genus Mirounga (elephant-seal)

sea-elephant1601

elephant-seal1841

1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 165 Macrorhinus proboscideus..Sea-Elephant and Elephant-Seal of the English.

elephant-shrew n. (see quot.).

ΚΠ

1868 J. G. Wood Homes without Hands i. 15 The Elephant Shrew of Southern Africa (Macroscelides typicus) a thick-furred, long-snouted, short-eared burrower.

Categories »

elephant's-tusks n. a genus of gasteropodous molluscs belonging to the family Dentalidæ or tooth-shells.

elephant-trumpet n. (see 3).

elephant trunk n. (also elephant's trunk) rhyming slang drunk, also elliptical.

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the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > excess in drinking > [adjective] > drunk

fordrunkenc897

drunkena1050

cup-shottenc1330

drunka1400

inebriate1497

overseenc1500

liquor1509

fou1535

nase?1536

full1554

intoxicate1554

tippled1564

intoxicated1576

pepst1577

overflown1579

whip-cat1582

pottical1586

cup-shota1593

fox-drunk1592

lion-drunk1592

nappy1592

sack-sopped1593

in drink1598

disguiseda1600

drink-drowned1600

daggeda1605

pot-shotten1604

tap-shackled1604

high1607

bumpsy1611

foxed1611

in one's cups1611

liquored1611

love-pot1611

pot-sick1611

whift1611

owl-eyed1613

fapa1616

hota1616

inebriated1615

reeling ripea1616

in one's (or the) pots1618

scratched1622

high-flown?1624

pot-shot1627

temulentive1628

ebrious1629

temulent1629

jug-bitten1630

pot-shaken1630

toxed1635

bene-bowsiea1637

swilled1637

paid1638

soaken1651

temulentious1652

flagonal1653

fuddled1656

cut1673

nazzy1673

concerned1678

whittled1694

suckey1699

well-oiled1701

tippeda1708

tow-row1709

wet1709

swash1711

strut1718

cocked1737

cockeyed1737

jagged1737

moon-eyed1737

rocky1737

soaked1737

soft1737

stewed1737

stiff1737

muckibus1756

groggy1770

muzzeda1788

muzzya1795

slewed1801

lumpy1810

lushy1811

pissed1812

blue1813

lush1819

malty1819

sprung1821

three sheets in the wind1821

obfuscated1822

moppy1823

ripe1823

mixed1825

queer1826

rosined1828

shot in the neck1830

tight1830

rummy1834

inebrious1837

mizzled1840

obflisticated1840

grogged1842

pickled1842

swizzled1843

hit under the wing1844

obfusticatedc1844

ebriate1847

pixilated1848

boozed1850

ploughed1853

squiffy?1855

buffy1858

elephant trunk1859

scammered1859

gassed1863

fly-blown1864

rotten1864

shot1864

ebriose1871

shicker1872

parlatic1877

miraculous1879

under the influence1879

ginned1881

shickered1883

boiled1886

mosy1887

to be loaded for bear(s)1888

squiffeda1890

loaded1890

oversparred1890

sozzled1892

tanked1893

orey-eyed1895

up the (also a) pole1897

woozy1897

toxic1899

polluted1900

lit-up1902

on (also upon) one's ear1903

pie-eyed1903

pifflicated1905

piped1906

spiflicated1906

jingled1908

skimished1908

tin hat1909

canned1910

pipped1911

lit1912

peloothered1914

molo1916

shick1916

zigzag1916

blotto1917

oiled-up1918

stung1919

stunned1919

bottled1922

potted1922

rotto1922

puggled1923

puggle1925

fried1926

crocked1927

fluthered1927

lubricated1927

whiffled1927

liquefied1928

steamed1929

mirackc1930

overshot1931

swacked1932

looped1934

stocious1937

whistled1938

sauced1939

mashed1942

plonked1943

stone1945

juiced1946

buzzed1952

jazzed1955

schnockered1955

honkers1957

skunked1958

bombed1959

zonked1959

bevvied1960

mokus1960

snockered1961

plotzed1962

over the limit1966

the worse for wear1966

wasted1968

wired1970

zoned1971

blasted1972

Brahms and Liszt?1972

funked up1976

trousered1977

motherless1980

tired and emotional1981

ratted1982

rat-arsed1984

wazzed1990

mullered1993

twatted1993

bollocksed1994

lashed1996

1859 J. C. Hotten Dict. Slang 143 Elephant's trunk, drunk.

1909 J. R. Ware Passing Eng. Victorian Era 123/2 Elephant's trunk: drunk. The phrase became incomprehensible by the dropping of the rhyming. ‘Oh he's elephants’ (i.e., intoxicated) will, in time to come, exercise many an etymologist.

1931 Evening Standard 19 Aug. 10/1 He came home and he found the artful dodger elephant trunk in the bread and butter (He found the lodger drunk in the gutter).

C3. Also in the names of various plants.

elephant-apple n. (see quot.).

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular tree or plant yielding useful gum or resin > [noun] > Asian > wood-apple tree or fruit

wood-apple1858

elephant-apple1866

1866 Treasury Bot., Feronia. The Wood-apple or Elephant-apple tree of India, F. elephantum, is the only species belonging to this genus of Aurantiaceae.

elephant-creeper n. ( Argyreia speciosa).

elephant grass n. (also elephant's-grass) any of various kinds of grass or grasslike plants, esp. Pennisetum purpureum

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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > a grass or grasses > [noun] > names applied to various types of grass

windlestrawc1000

shear-grass1483

risp1508

sweet-grass1577

star grass1687

reesk1735

bluegrass1751

cheat1784

spear-grass1784

white top1803

prairie grass1812

elephant grass1832

ryegrass1845

wool-grass1854

snow-grass1865

quick1896

1832 W. Roxburgh et al. Flora Indica (new ed.) III. 566 Elephant grass... Elephants are fond of it.

1895 B. M. Croker Village Tales 15 We marched two and two,..glancing askance at every bush, at every big tuft of elephant grass.

1906 Westm. Gaz. 28 Dec. 2/1 Long grass in Uganda, ‘elephant grass’, grows from fifteen feet to twenty feet high.

1968 J. W. Purseglove Trop. Crops II. 472 Elephant grass. Pennisetum purpureum Schum., is the common mulch.

elephant's ear n. the Begonia.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > foliage, house, or garden plants > [noun] > begonia

begonia1751

elephant's ear1866

1866 Treasury Bot., Feronia. Elephant's-ear, the common name for Begonia.

1884 W. Miller Dict. Eng. Names Plants Elephant's-ear. The genus begonia.

elephant's foot n. (a) a species of Yam ( Testudinaria elephantipes); (b) a plant belonging to the genus Elephantopus.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > non-British plants or herbs > [noun] > Asian or Indian

moving plant1787

elephant's foot1789

Indian lettuce1791

Sonerila1846

telegraph plant1856

whirling plant1866

mitsuba1890

1789 W. Aiton Hortus Kewensis III. 280 Elephantopus scaber. Rough-leav'd Elephant's foot. Nat. of the East Indies. Cult. 1695, in Chelsea Garden.

1845–50 A. H. Lincoln Familiar Lect. Bot. (new ed.) 186 The elephant's-foot (Elephantopus), a low, hairy-leaved plant, with purple, ligulate florets.

1872 D. Oliver Lessons Elem. Bot. (new ed.) ii. 271 Testudinaria elephantipes ..From the appearance of the rhizome it is called ‘Elephant's foot’ at the Cape of Good Hope.

1901 C. T. Mohr Plant Life Alabama 759 Carolina Elephant's-Foot..[grows in] open dry woods, borders of fields, pastures.

1966 H. W. Rickett Wild Flowers of U.S. I. 508 The genus Elephantopus—elephant's foot— is mainly tropical.

elephant's-trunk-plant n. (see quot.).

ΚΠ

1884 W. Miller Dict. Eng. Names Plants Elephant's-trunk-plant, Martynia proboscidea.

elephant's-vine n. = elephant's-trunk-plant n.

ΚΠ

1884 W. Miller Dict. Eng. Names Plants Elephant's Vine, Cissus latifolia.

Draft additions March 2006

Originally U.S. elephant in the room (also elephant in the living room) and variants.

a. The type of something obvious and incongruous, esp. (in Logic and Philosophy) in discussions of statements which may or may not correspond to observable facts.

ΚΠ

1935 H. T. Costello in H. M. Kallen & S. Hook Amer. Philos. Today & Tomorrow 106 It is going beyond observation to assert there is not an elephant in the room, for I cannot observe what is not.

1948 H. C. Haydn Time is Noon 310 To drag in, no matter if it is as incongruous as an elephant in the living room, some reference to the class struggle.

1959 N.Y. Times 20 June 19 Financing schools has become a problem about equal to having an elephant in the living room. It's so big you just can't ignore it.

2003 Philos. Stud. 112 12 Consider an analogy: even if looking around is generally unreliable for discovering whether an object is within a hundred miles, looking around can confirm whether there is an elephant in the room.

b. A significant problem or controversial issue which is obviously present but ignored or avoided as a subject for discussion, usually because it is more comfortable to do so.

ΚΠ

1984 M. H. Typpo & J. M. Hastings (title) An elephant in the living room: a leader's guide for helping children of alcoholics.

1996 Sunday Times (Nexis) 22 Dec. All the comment had missed the elephant in the room—and thus, despite the SIB's mild reform ideas, something like Sumitomo could happen again.

2001 M. F. Green Schizophrenia Revealed i. 12 Accessory symptoms, such as hallucinations and delusions, became the elephant in the middle of the room.

2004 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 29 Aug. iii. 4/4 When it comes to the rising price of oil, the elephant in the room is the ever-weakening United States dollar.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	elephant
释义	elephantn. Brit. /ˈɛlᵻf(ə)nt/, U.S. /ˈɛləfənt/ Forms: Middle English elifans, Middle English ele-, elyphaunt(e, Middle English elefaunte, 1500s eliphant, Middle English–1500s elephante, 1500s– elephant. See also oliphant n. Etymology: < classical Latin elephant- (nominative elephantus , elephas , elephans ) < ancient Greek ἐλέϕαντ- , ἐλέϕας ivory, elephant. This word replaced both oliphant n., borrowed into early Middle English from Old French, and the even earlier elp n., derived from an Old English borrowing.Although the reflex of classical Latin elephant- is attested in Old French, it is very rare before the 15th cent., olifant being the usual Old French form; the English equivalent is therefore probably a direct borrowing < Latin. It is noteworthy that both elifans and olyfont are found in the Ayenbite (1340). Of the ultimate etymology nothing is really known. The Greek word is found in the sense ‘ivory’ in Homer and Hesiod; a loan from Asia Minor seems plausible, as this was a flourishing centre of the ivory trade in the second millennium. The resemblance in sound to Hebrew eleph ‘ox’ has given rise to a suggestion of derivation from some Phoenician or Punic compound of that word. Loans < Egyptian or Sanskrit are probably to be rejected on phonetic grounds. For the possible relation to this word of the Germanic and Slavonic name for ‘camel’, see olfend n. 1. a. A huge quadruped of the Pachydermate order, having long curving ivory tusks, and a prehensile trunk or proboscis. Of several species once distributed over the world, including Britain, only two now exist, the African and Indian; the former is the largest of extant land animals, and the latter is often used as a beast of burden, and in war. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > order Proboscidea (elephants) > [noun] > elephant elpc1000 oliphantc1275 elephant1340 carry-castle1599 hathi1838 Lucanian ox1863 Lucanian cow1879 heffalump1926 the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > order Proboscidea (elephants) > [noun] > elephant > elephas maximus (Indian elephant) elephant1340 Indian elephant1555 white elephant1555 1340 Ayenbite (1866) 224 Þe elifans nele naȝt wonye mid his wyue, þerhuyle þet hi is mid childe. 1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomew de Glanville De Proprietatibus Rerum (1495) v. xxviii. 138 The elyphaunt hath a longe nose lyke a trompe. 1430 J. Lydgate tr. Hist. Troy ii. xi Elyphauntes and large Unicornes..Forged of brasse. 1555 R. Eden Two Viages into Guinea in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 354 The elephante (which sum caule an oliphant) is the biggest of all foure footed beastes. 1570 B. Googe tr. T. Kirchmeyer Popish Kingdome ii. f. 24^v Of Flyes they able are to make, great Eliphants in sight. 1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida ii. iii. 104 The Elephant hath ioynts, but none for courtesie. View more context for this quotation 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iv. 345 Th' unwieldy Elephant To make them mirth..wreathd His Lithe Proboscis. View more context for this quotation 1744 J. Thomson Summer in Seasons (new ed.) 84 The huge Elephant: wisest of Brutes! 1857 D. Livingstone Missionary Trav. S. Afr. xxviii. 563 Full-grown male elephants..ranged in height at the withers from 9 feet 9 inches to 9 feet 10 inches. b. figurative of a man of huge stature. ΚΠ 1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida ii. iii. 2 Shall the Elephant Aiax carry it thus? View more context for this quotation c. elephant's teeth (i.e. tusks): ivory. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > order Proboscidea (elephants) > [noun] > elephant > parts of > tusk(s) > ivory elephant's teetha1398 elephant?1615 a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xiv. xxxiii. 712 Salomons seruantes brouȝte golde and siluer, apes and pocockes, elephantes teethe. 1657 R. Ligon True Hist. Barbados 2 A Friggot..her loading Gold and Elephants teeth. d. to see the elephant (U.S. slang): to see life, the world, or the sights (as of a large city); to get experience of life, to gain knowledge by experience. Also to show or get a look at the elephant. (Cf. lion n. 4.) ΚΠ 1835 A. B. Longstreet Georgia Scenes 10 That's sufficient, as Tom Haynes said when he saw the elephant.] 1844 G. W. Kendall Narr. Santa Fé Exped. I. 108 There is a cant expression, ‘I've seen the elephant’ in very common use in Texas. 1847 W. T. Porter Quarter Race Kentucky 87 I axed him if he'd ever seen the elephant. 1849 N. Kingsley Diary (1914) 86 [I] went up town and saw the Elephant, and it almost baffles description. 1849 T. T. Johnson Sights Gold Region 324 If you think we have not shown you enough of the elephant..please to mount him and take a view for yourself. 1857 O. W. Wight Quinland II. ii. xviii. 126 The ‘Fox and Crow’ is one of the famous sights in New York. It is never missed by the countryman or the foreigner, who is searching after the ‘elephant’. 1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds iii. 45 My friend Will Wylie, who had seen the elephant in its entirety, from trunk to tail. 1906 ‘O. Henry’ Four Million 87 He makes his rounds every evening, while you and I see the elephant once a week. 1960 T. V. Olsen High Lawless (1961) iii. 30 Saturdays some of the boys from the three big outfits come in to see the elephant. e. As the emblem of the Republican party in the United States. ΚΠ 1860 Railsplitter in Sperber & Trittschuh Amer. Pol. Terms (1962) 141/2 Woodcut: elephant..announcing a Lincoln demonstration. 1874 Harper's Weekly XVIII. 912 (caption under an elephant) The Republican Vote.] 1876 Harper's Weekly 28 Oct. 868 (caption) ‘The elephant walks around’—and the ‘still hunt’ is nearly over. 1904 Chicago Tribune 20 June 6 The selection..will..handicap the republic elephant in the coming race. 1952 Economist 12 July 89/1 It would now take some sort of a miracle for Mr. Taft to catch the Republican elephant. f. In full elephant-colour: a fashion shade simulating the grey colour of the elephant. Cf. elephant-grey n. at Compounds 2 below. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > colour > named colours > grey or greyness > [noun] > other greys mode1868 elephant1875 zinc-grey1881 elephant-grey1896 peacock-grey1935 the world > matter > colour > named colours > grey or greyness > [adjective] > other greys pewtery1776 elephant1875 desert-grey1901 1875 All Year Round 278/1 So admirably is elephant-colour copied. 1894 Queen 6 Oct. 574/1 The shade of cloth used..being known as ‘Elephant’. 1923 Daily Mail 7 June 6 In Almond Green,..Mole, Elephant, Honey. 2. As the sign of an inn; the modern ‘Elephant and Castle’. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > drink > drinking > drinking place > [noun] > tavern or public house > tavern sign lion?a1366 ale stake1396 ivy14.. sunc1400 tokenc1440 eagle1449 chequerc1460 wisp?1507 Saracen's head1510 ale-pole1523 bush1532 wine garland1533 ivy-garland1553 tavern-bush1553 lattice1575 ivy-bush1576 alebush1599 red lattice1604 elephanta1616 sagittarya1616 grate1622 wine-bush1638 popinjay1687 a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) iii. iii. 39 In the South Suburbes at the Elephant Is best to lodge. View more context for this quotation 1853 C. Dickens Bleak House xxvii. 270 The far-famed Elephant who has lost his Castle. †3. Ivory [after Latin elephantus]. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > order Proboscidea (elephants) > [noun] > elephant > parts of > tusk(s) > ivory elephant's teetha1398 elephant?1615 ?1615 G. Chapman tr. Homer Odysses (new ed.) xix. 77 A chair..The substance silver and rich elephant. 1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 285 Heavy Gold, and polish'd Elephant. 1726 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey V. xxi. 10 The handle..With steel and polish'd elephant adorn'd. 4. A Danish Order of Knighthood. ΚΠ 1703 London Gaz. No. 3895/2 The King of Denmark conferred the Order of the Elephant upon the Duke of Mecklembourg. 1751 Chambers's Cycl. (ed. 7) Its badge..is an elephant, with a castle on its back, set with diamonds, and hung on a watered sky-coloured ribband, like the George in England... In 1189..a gentleman among the Danish croisees killed an elephant; in memory of which..the order was erected. 1837 Penny Cycl. VIII. 401/1 The orders of knighthood [in Denmark] are the order of the Elephant, etc. 5. sea elephant n. a species of Seal ( Macrorhinus proboscideus), the males of which have the snout somewhat prolonged. ΚΠ 1798 in Naval Chron. (1799) 1 254 The sea elephant..has been rather scarce. 1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 165 Macrorhinus proboscideus..Sea-Elephant and Elephant-Seal of the English. †6. A species of lizard mentioned by Pliny. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > reptiles > order Squamata (lizards and snakes) > suborder Lacertilia (lizards) > [noun] > unspecified and miscellaneous types provincial1575 elephant1601 roquet1666 scorpion-lizard1709 Guernsey lizard1769 geitje1786 pleodont1840 ngarara1843 sleepy lizard1883 tucktoo1896 1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 451 Black Elephants..which be the black kind of the Lizards. 1608 E. Topsell Hist. Serpents 176 There be..Serpents called Elephants, because whomsoeuer they bite, they infect with a kind of a leprosie. †7. [after Portuguese elephante : see elephanta n.] ‘A name given originally by the Portuguese to violent storms occurring at the termination, though some travellers describe it as at the setting in, of the Monsoon’ (Yule). Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > bad weather > [noun] > stormy weather > a storm > violent storm > specific types hurricane1555 typhoon1588 oliphant1616 elephant1702 elephanta1725 typhon1783 tropical storm1809 tropical cyclone1852 hustler1882 hurricano- 1554 Sidi' Ali 75 The kind of storm is known under the name of the Elephant; it blows from the west.] 1702 R. Neve Apopiroscopy Prolegomenon sig. b6^v Eighthly, Of Winds, and Storms at Sea; as Trades-Winds, Huricanes,..Elephants, Monsoons. 8. Botany. A species of Scabious. ΚΠ 1847 in J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words 1878 J. Britten & R. Holland Dict. Eng. Plant-names 9. a. (more fully elephant-paper). A size of drawing and cartridge paper measuring 28 × 23 inches. double elephant: a similar paper measuring 40 × 26½ inches. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > equipment for painting or drawing > [noun] > surface for painting or drawing > paper > specific size elephant1702 Atlas1712 1702 London Gaz. No. 3814/4 On two large sheets of Elephant Paper. 1716 London Gaz. No. 5493/4 The fine Imperial will not be sold under 7l...and the Elephant 3l. ?1790 J. Imison School of Arts (ed. 2) 238 A sheet of the largest elephant paper. a1807 J. Opie Lect. on Painting (1809) 146 Writing..upon..double elephant..paper. 1870 W. S. Jevons Elem. Lessons Logic iv. 35 Elephant in a stationer's..shop means a large kind of paper. 1880 Daily Tel. 3 Dec. ‘Elephant folio’..that is to say, of the fullest portfolio size. b. Army slang. (See quots. 1925, 1943.) ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > defence > defensive work(s) > earthwork or rampart > [noun] > trench > shelter in trench dugout1904 tamboo1916 elephant1917 glory-hole1925 1917 A. G. Empey From Fire Step 152 One gun..had the exact range of our ‘elephant’ dug-out entrance. 1919 War Terms in Athenæum 15 Aug. 759/1 Elephant, corrugated iron shelter. Baby elephant, small corrugated iron shelter. 1919 G. K. Rose 2/4th Oxf. & Bucks Light Infantry 10 Battalion Headquarters..were comfortable enough with many ‘elephant’ dug-outs and half a farm~house for a mess. 1925 E. Fraser & J. Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words Elephant (and Baby Elephant) Dug-Out: a dug-out made with semi-circular linings of heavy corrugated iron. The two names refer to the two sizes issued. 1943 J. L. Hunt & A. G. Pringle Service Slang 30 Elephant hut, a Nissen hut (shaped somewhat like the beast). Compounds C1. General attributive. a. elephant bell n. ΚΠ 1923 D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers (London ed.) 170 The elephant bells striking slow, tong-tong, tong-tong. elephant-horn n. ΚΠ 1884 19th Cent. Feb. 252 A dozen elephant-horns heralded forth that the royal party were in motion. elephant house n. ΚΠ 1895 C. J. Cornish Life at Zoo 7 The Elephant and Antelope Houses. 1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. vi. [Hades] 90 A tall blackbearded figure..stumping round the corner of Elvery's elephant house. 1943 J. L. Hunt & A. G. Pringle Service Slang 30 Elephant houses, old forts at Dunkirk. elephant-keeper n. ΚΠ 1799 J. Corse in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 89 210 Besides these, the elephant-keepers notice other varieties, which are less distinct. elephant-killer n. ΚΠ 1608 E. Topsell Hist. Serpents 156 Neither haue they any other name for those dragons but Elephant-killers. elephant-shed n. ΚΠ 1859 J. Lang Wanderings in India 261 Her tomb..had been taken away bodily, to pave the elephant shed. b. elephant-headed adj. ΚΠ 1854 F. Hall Rája-níti Notes 1 Elephant-headed..Ganesa, fulfil my desires. elephant-like adj. ΘΚΠ the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > largeness > [adjective] > of large volume or bulky > and clumsy unridec1175 un-i-weldec1275 boistous?a1400 cumbrousa1400 roida1450 clubbishc1530 lumpish?1573 bouncing1579 unwieldy1582 boisterous1590 unfeirdyc1590 lumbering1593 cumbersome1594 elephantic1598 elephant-likea1603 moliminous1642 clumpish1681 rhinocerical1689 hulking1699 hulky1785 lumberly1805 elephantine1826 rhinocerial1828 lumbersome1834 clumpy1836 lumbrous1836 hippopotamic1853 hippopotamian1864 megatherial1894 hippopotamine1911 a1603 T. Cartwright Confut. Rhemists New Test. (1618) 500 Your knees..are ioyntlesse and Elephant-like in your obedience unto his precepts. C2. elephant-bed n. (see quot.). ΚΠ 1887 H. B. Woodward Geol. Eng. & Wales 519 The Elephant Bed [at Brighton] first described by Dr. Mantell is provincially termed Combe rock..it contains remains of Elephas primigenius, etc. elephant-beetle n. some South American beetle, probably Dynastes Neptunus; the name has also been applied to the African species Goliathus giganteus and G. cacicus. ΚΠ 1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VIII. 139 The Elephant-beetle..is found in..Guiana and Surinam. 1777 Henly in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 67 123 Thigh of the elephant beetle. elephant bird n. a large fossil bird of the genus Æpyornis, found in Madagascar. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > unspecified and miscellaneous birds > [noun] > extinct or fossil > extinct or fossil types moa1839 Dinornis1843 Aepyornis1851 Archaeopteryx1862 Hesperornis1871 ichthyornis1872 elephant bird1889 mamo1891 1889 Cent. Dict. Elephant-bird. 1933 A. S. Romer Vertebr. Paleontol. x. 214 In Madagascar lived a number of species of ‘elephant-birds’. 1969 New Scientist 13 Mar. 20/1 The peculiar and often bizarre forms evolved in isolation: species such as..the elephant-bird in Madagascar. elephant-fish n. (see quot.). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > fish > subclass Holocephali > [noun] > member of family Chimaeridae > chimaera callorhynchus (elephant-fish) elephant-fish1777 1777 J. Cook Jrnl. 27 Jan. (1967) III. i. 51 Fish..known to Seamen by the name of Elephant fish. 1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Elephant-fish, the Chimæra callorhynchus named from the proboscis-like process on its nose. elephant-gravel n. gravel containing remains of elephants. ΚΠ 1852 E. Forbes Let. in Life Forbes xiv. 505 The newer elephant-gravel of these parts. elephant-grey n. = sense 1f. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > colour > named colours > grey or greyness > [noun] > other greys mode1868 elephant1875 zinc-grey1881 elephant-grey1896 peacock-grey1935 1896 Daily News 12 Sept. 6/2 ‘Elephant’ grey is another favourite. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 7 Apr. 18/2 A tailor suit of elephant-grey facecloth. 1921 G. Jekyll Colour Schemes for Flower Garden 2 The trunks of the Spanish Chestnuts are elephant-grey. 1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. viii. [Lestrygonians] 148 Molly had that elephantgrey dress with the braided frogs. elephant hawkmoth n. (see quot.). ΚΠ 1879 J. Lubbock Sci. Lect. ii. 52 Chærocampa elpenor, the elephant hawk-moth. elephant joke n. a child's nonsense riddle of which an elephant (usually in a ridiculous situation) is the subject: (see quot. 1984). ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > causing laughter > [noun] > jest or pleasantry > a jest or joke > other types of jest or joke dry biscuit jest1600 kniff-knaff1683 private joke1789 jokelet1847 inside joke1849 wheeze1864 one-liner1904 lavatory joke1931 lavatory humour1935 sight gag1957 cruellie1959 in-joke1964 elephant joke1966 1966 C. Williams Don't just stand There (1967) 148 Well, hell, do isometric exercises, tell elephant jokes, write postcards. 1976 Daily Mirror 11 Mar. 12/2 They should chew gum and tell elephant jokes and experiment with lipstick and play their transistor radios very loudly indeed. 1984 T. Augarde Oxf. Guide Word Games i. 13 How can you tell if an elephant has been in your fridge? Footprints in the butter. The last of these [riddles] is obviously modern—and a typical example of the craze for ‘elephant’ jokes which existed in the 1970s. elephant-leg n. = elephantiasis n. elephant-paper n. (see 9). elephant-path n. a path trodden by elephants. ΚΠ 1853 Edinb. New Philos. Jrnl. 55 79 Passages made formerly by the gigantic elephant, which are well adapted for bridle-paths... The knowledge of these various elephant-paths forms the resource of the marauding Caffre. elephant-rain n. (see quot.). ΚΠ 1895 R. Kipling Second Jungle Bk. 215 A light spring rain—elephant-rain they call it—drove across the Jungle. elephant's breath n. a shade of colour, light steel grey. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > colour > named colours > grey or greyness > [noun] > light grey elephant's breath1884 mist1926 1884 Cassell's Family Mag. Mar. 246/2 Dressed in grey, the shade known as ‘elephant's breath’. elephant-seal n. = sea elephant n. at sense 5. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Pinnipedia (seal, sea lion, or walrus) > [noun] > family Phocidae > genus Mirounga (elephant-seal) sea-elephant1601 elephant-seal1841 1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 165 Macrorhinus proboscideus..Sea-Elephant and Elephant-Seal of the English. elephant-shrew n. (see quot.). ΚΠ 1868 J. G. Wood Homes without Hands i. 15 The Elephant Shrew of Southern Africa (Macroscelides typicus) a thick-furred, long-snouted, short-eared burrower. Categories » elephant's-tusks n. a genus of gasteropodous molluscs belonging to the family Dentalidæ or tooth-shells. elephant-trumpet n. (see 3). elephant trunk n. (also elephant's trunk) rhyming slang drunk, also elliptical. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > excess in drinking > [adjective] > drunk fordrunkenc897 drunkena1050 cup-shottenc1330 drunka1400 inebriate1497 overseenc1500 liquor1509 fou1535 nase?1536 full1554 intoxicate1554 tippled1564 intoxicated1576 pepst1577 overflown1579 whip-cat1582 pottical1586 cup-shota1593 fox-drunk1592 lion-drunk1592 nappy1592 sack-sopped1593 in drink1598 disguiseda1600 drink-drowned1600 daggeda1605 pot-shotten1604 tap-shackled1604 high1607 bumpsy1611 foxed1611 in one's cups1611 liquored1611 love-pot1611 pot-sick1611 whift1611 owl-eyed1613 fapa1616 hota1616 inebriated1615 reeling ripea1616 in one's (or the) pots1618 scratched1622 high-flown?1624 pot-shot1627 temulentive1628 ebrious1629 temulent1629 jug-bitten1630 pot-shaken1630 toxed1635 bene-bowsiea1637 swilled1637 paid1638 soaken1651 temulentious1652 flagonal1653 fuddled1656 cut1673 nazzy1673 concerned1678 whittled1694 suckey1699 well-oiled1701 tippeda1708 tow-row1709 wet1709 swash1711 strut1718 cocked1737 cockeyed1737 jagged1737 moon-eyed1737 rocky1737 soaked1737 soft1737 stewed1737 stiff1737 muckibus1756 groggy1770 muzzeda1788 muzzya1795 slewed1801 lumpy1810 lushy1811 pissed1812 blue1813 lush1819 malty1819 sprung1821 three sheets in the wind1821 obfuscated1822 moppy1823 ripe1823 mixed1825 queer1826 rosined1828 shot in the neck1830 tight1830 rummy1834 inebrious1837 mizzled1840 obflisticated1840 grogged1842 pickled1842 swizzled1843 hit under the wing1844 obfusticatedc1844 ebriate1847 pixilated1848 boozed1850 ploughed1853 squiffy?1855 buffy1858 elephant trunk1859 scammered1859 gassed1863 fly-blown1864 rotten1864 shot1864 ebriose1871 shicker1872 parlatic1877 miraculous1879 under the influence1879 ginned1881 shickered1883 boiled1886 mosy1887 to be loaded for bear(s)1888 squiffeda1890 loaded1890 oversparred1890 sozzled1892 tanked1893 orey-eyed1895 up the (also a) pole1897 woozy1897 toxic1899 polluted1900 lit-up1902 on (also upon) one's ear1903 pie-eyed1903 pifflicated1905 piped1906 spiflicated1906 jingled1908 skimished1908 tin hat1909 canned1910 pipped1911 lit1912 peloothered1914 molo1916 shick1916 zigzag1916 blotto1917 oiled-up1918 stung1919 stunned1919 bottled1922 potted1922 rotto1922 puggled1923 puggle1925 fried1926 crocked1927 fluthered1927 lubricated1927 whiffled1927 liquefied1928 steamed1929 mirackc1930 overshot1931 swacked1932 looped1934 stocious1937 whistled1938 sauced1939 mashed1942 plonked1943 stone1945 juiced1946 buzzed1952 jazzed1955 schnockered1955 honkers1957 skunked1958 bombed1959 zonked1959 bevvied1960 mokus1960 snockered1961 plotzed1962 over the limit1966 the worse for wear1966 wasted1968 wired1970 zoned1971 blasted1972 Brahms and Liszt?1972 funked up1976 trousered1977 motherless1980 tired and emotional1981 ratted1982 rat-arsed1984 wazzed1990 mullered1993 twatted1993 bollocksed1994 lashed1996 1859 J. C. Hotten Dict. Slang 143 Elephant's trunk, drunk. 1909 J. R. Ware Passing Eng. Victorian Era 123/2 Elephant's trunk: drunk. The phrase became incomprehensible by the dropping of the rhyming. ‘Oh he's elephants’ (i.e., intoxicated) will, in time to come, exercise many an etymologist. 1931 Evening Standard 19 Aug. 10/1 He came home and he found the artful dodger elephant trunk in the bread and butter (He found the lodger drunk in the gutter). C3. Also in the names of various plants. elephant-apple n. (see quot.). ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular tree or plant yielding useful gum or resin > [noun] > Asian > wood-apple tree or fruit wood-apple1858 elephant-apple1866 1866 Treasury Bot., Feronia. The Wood-apple or Elephant-apple tree of India, F. elephantum, is the only species belonging to this genus of Aurantiaceae. elephant-creeper n. ( Argyreia speciosa). elephant grass n. (also elephant's-grass) any of various kinds of grass or grasslike plants, esp. Pennisetum purpureum ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > a grass or grasses > [noun] > names applied to various types of grass windlestrawc1000 shear-grass1483 risp1508 sweet-grass1577 star grass1687 reesk1735 bluegrass1751 cheat1784 spear-grass1784 white top1803 prairie grass1812 elephant grass1832 ryegrass1845 wool-grass1854 snow-grass1865 quick1896 1832 W. Roxburgh et al. Flora Indica (new ed.) III. 566 Elephant grass... Elephants are fond of it. 1895 B. M. Croker Village Tales 15 We marched two and two,..glancing askance at every bush, at every big tuft of elephant grass. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 28 Dec. 2/1 Long grass in Uganda, ‘elephant grass’, grows from fifteen feet to twenty feet high. 1968 J. W. Purseglove Trop. Crops II. 472 Elephant grass. Pennisetum purpureum Schum., is the common mulch. elephant's ear n. the Begonia. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > foliage, house, or garden plants > [noun] > begonia begonia1751 elephant's ear1866 1866 Treasury Bot., Feronia. Elephant's-ear, the common name for Begonia. 1884 W. Miller Dict. Eng. Names Plants Elephant's-ear. The genus begonia. elephant's foot n. (a) a species of Yam ( Testudinaria elephantipes); (b) a plant belonging to the genus Elephantopus. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > non-British plants or herbs > [noun] > Asian or Indian moving plant1787 elephant's foot1789 Indian lettuce1791 Sonerila1846 telegraph plant1856 whirling plant1866 mitsuba1890 1789 W. Aiton Hortus Kewensis III. 280 Elephantopus scaber. Rough-leav'd Elephant's foot. Nat. of the East Indies. Cult. 1695, in Chelsea Garden. 1845–50 A. H. Lincoln Familiar Lect. Bot. (new ed.) 186 The elephant's-foot (Elephantopus), a low, hairy-leaved plant, with purple, ligulate florets. 1872 D. Oliver Lessons Elem. Bot. (new ed.) ii. 271 Testudinaria elephantipes ..From the appearance of the rhizome it is called ‘Elephant's foot’ at the Cape of Good Hope. 1901 C. T. Mohr Plant Life Alabama 759 Carolina Elephant's-Foot..[grows in] open dry woods, borders of fields, pastures. 1966 H. W. Rickett Wild Flowers of U.S. I. 508 The genus Elephantopus—elephant's foot— is mainly tropical. elephant's-trunk-plant n. (see quot.). ΚΠ 1884 W. Miller Dict. Eng. Names Plants Elephant's-trunk-plant, Martynia proboscidea. elephant's-vine n. = elephant's-trunk-plant n. ΚΠ 1884 W. Miller Dict. Eng. Names Plants Elephant's Vine, Cissus latifolia. Draft additions March 2006 Originally U.S. elephant in the room (also elephant in the living room) and variants. a. The type of something obvious and incongruous, esp. (in Logic and Philosophy) in discussions of statements which may or may not correspond to observable facts. ΚΠ 1935 H. T. Costello in H. M. Kallen & S. Hook Amer. Philos. Today & Tomorrow 106 It is going beyond observation to assert there is not an elephant in the room, for I cannot observe what is not. 1948 H. C. Haydn Time is Noon 310 To drag in, no matter if it is as incongruous as an elephant in the living room, some reference to the class struggle. 1959 N.Y. Times 20 June 19 Financing schools has become a problem about equal to having an elephant in the living room. It's so big you just can't ignore it. 2003 Philos. Stud. 112 12 Consider an analogy: even if looking around is generally unreliable for discovering whether an object is within a hundred miles, looking around can confirm whether there is an elephant in the room. b. A significant problem or controversial issue which is obviously present but ignored or avoided as a subject for discussion, usually because it is more comfortable to do so. ΚΠ 1984 M. H. Typpo & J. M. Hastings (title) An elephant in the living room: a leader's guide for helping children of alcoholics. 1996 Sunday Times (Nexis) 22 Dec. All the comment had missed the elephant in the room—and thus, despite the SIB's mild reform ideas, something like Sumitomo could happen again. 2001 M. F. Green Schizophrenia Revealed i. 12 Accessory symptoms, such as hallucinations and delusions, became the elephant in the middle of the room. 2004 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 29 Aug. iii. 4/4 When it comes to the rising price of oil, the elephant in the room is the ever-weakening United States dollar. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < n.1340
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