请输入您要查询的英文单词:

 

单词 elephant
释义

Definition of elephant in English:

elephant

nounPlural elephants ˈɛlɪf(ə)ntˈɛləfənt
  • 1A very large plant-eating mammal with a prehensile trunk, long curved ivory tusks, and large ears, native to Africa and southern Asia. It is the largest living land animal.

    Family Elephantidae, order Proboscidea: two species. See African elephant, Indian elephant

    Example sentencesExamples
    • She loved the elephants and spent a good ten minutes pointing and making elephant noises.
    • We forbid the sale of goods made from endangered species such as elephants and rhino.
    • The sale of new ivory was banned in 1989 to curb the slaughter of elephants in Africa.
    • The narrative starts with the violent death of the young elephant's mother.
    • Living with elephants and giraffes, and seeing lions hunt and kill, was fantastic.
    • The good news is that mice can scare elephants, and that happens from time to time.
    • On watching the footage, you start to believe that elephants may indeed be as intelligent as the great apes.
    • Animals such as elephants also use infrasound to communicate over long distances or as weapons to repel foes.
    • There were grazing giraffes, ostriches and above all, these wonderful elephants.
    • Towards the end of the Miocene, modern cats and the first elephants arrived on the scene.
    • What about tigers, elephants and ducks listening to a chorus of frogs singing happily?
    • Tigers, elephants and a few others animals still roam there and along the borders.
    • They will visit Nairobi Nursery, where the smallest orphaned elephants and rhinos are kept.
    • You used to get lions and tigers and seals with ball skills and elephants giving slow rides to juggling monkeys.
    • Herds of elephants stroll past as lions hide in bushes eyeing up a feast of zebras.
    • If we announced that we were in the market for fresh ivory, of course that would encourage the poaching of elephants.
    • The zoo is really cool and we saw all the favourites the best of which were lemurs, elephants and the zebras of course.
    • He referred to past incidents involving elephants that have created bad publicity.
    • His notoriety first spread as the poacher of wild elephants for their precious tusks.
    • Last July, the Berkeley Museum of Art at the University of California hosted an exhibit of elephant art.
  • 2A size of paper, typically 28 × 23 inches (approximately 711 × 584 mm).

    Example sentencesExamples
    • Further, if we recall the great size of a typical elephant, the figure of Coryate is out of scale, much too large.

Phrases

  • the elephant in the room

    • A major problem or controversial issue which is obviously present but is avoided as a subject for discussion.

      they've steadfastly ignored the elephant in the room: the ever-growing debt burden on graduates
      Example sentencesExamples
      • But the Iraq issue was the elephant in the room, the issue that the two leaders could not ignore.
      • Here in Britain the issue of illegal immigration used to be like the elephant in the room that everyone pretended not to notice.
      • It's an OK article, but Rodriguez ignores the elephant in the room when discussing Kasparov's political fortunes in Russia: he's Jewish.
      • It's time for both sides to acknowledge the elephant in the room: we are exporting America's quality of life.
      • I'm sorry, that is a big - that is the elephant in the room.
      • But the elephant in the room, as the policy grinds forward, is US corporate involvement in Colombia.
      • I also think the Small decisions are interesting because they completely avoid the elephant in the room: the Second Amendment.
      • They do an admirable job of laying out the data, and the financial issues facing societies with ageing populations, with one major exception: they ignore the elephant in the room.
      • Equally unhealthy is a refusal to admit there is another view or to admit the presence of the elephant in the room.
      • It's the elephant in the room that everybody avoids talking about, isn't it?

Derivatives

  • elephantoid

  • adjective ˌɛlɪˈfantɔɪd
    • A 19-year-old man who had been weighed down by an enormous elephantoid tumor had become so overcome with grief that he tried on more than one occasion to commit suicide by swallowing arsenic.
      Example sentencesExamples
      • The elephantoid fossil record, combined with data on palaeoclimate and sea level, indicates when the large mammals may have crossed one of several land bridges out of Africa, into Asia, and back again, reports Kalb.
      • Five patients with varying severities of hyperkeratotic verrucous thickening at the skin illustrate that the condition may occasionally become elephantoid.

Origin

Middle English: from Old French elefant, via Latin from Greek elephas, elephant- 'ivory, elephant'.

  • Perhaps surprisingly, elephant did not come to us from an African or Indian language, but via Latin from Greek. The Greek word elephas meant both ‘ivory’ and ‘elephant’. It is found in the work of the poet Homer, who probably lived in the 8th century bc, and may have been taken up by the Greeks from an ancient language of the Middle East. Elephant appeared in English in the 14th century, but before that people called them oliphants or elps. The related word olfend was used to mean ‘a camel’—in those days northern Europeans had only vague notions of exotic animals. See also camel, chameleon, giraffe, room, white

 
 

Definition of elephant in US English:

elephant

nounˈɛləfəntˈeləfənt
  • 1A heavy plant-eating mammal with a prehensile trunk, long curved ivory tusks, and large ears, native to Africa and southern Asia. It is the largest living land animal.

    Family Elephantidae, order Proboscidea: two species. See African elephant, Indian elephant

    Example sentencesExamples
    • There were grazing giraffes, ostriches and above all, these wonderful elephants.
    • On watching the footage, you start to believe that elephants may indeed be as intelligent as the great apes.
    • Towards the end of the Miocene, modern cats and the first elephants arrived on the scene.
    • We forbid the sale of goods made from endangered species such as elephants and rhino.
    • If we announced that we were in the market for fresh ivory, of course that would encourage the poaching of elephants.
    • She loved the elephants and spent a good ten minutes pointing and making elephant noises.
    • The narrative starts with the violent death of the young elephant's mother.
    • Herds of elephants stroll past as lions hide in bushes eyeing up a feast of zebras.
    • The sale of new ivory was banned in 1989 to curb the slaughter of elephants in Africa.
    • The zoo is really cool and we saw all the favourites the best of which were lemurs, elephants and the zebras of course.
    • His notoriety first spread as the poacher of wild elephants for their precious tusks.
    • Living with elephants and giraffes, and seeing lions hunt and kill, was fantastic.
    • The good news is that mice can scare elephants, and that happens from time to time.
    • You used to get lions and tigers and seals with ball skills and elephants giving slow rides to juggling monkeys.
    • What about tigers, elephants and ducks listening to a chorus of frogs singing happily?
    • He referred to past incidents involving elephants that have created bad publicity.
    • Last July, the Berkeley Museum of Art at the University of California hosted an exhibit of elephant art.
    • Animals such as elephants also use infrasound to communicate over long distances or as weapons to repel foes.
    • Tigers, elephants and a few others animals still roam there and along the borders.
    • They will visit Nairobi Nursery, where the smallest orphaned elephants and rhinos are kept.
  • 2A size of paper, now standardized at 28 × 23 inches (approximately 711 × 584 mm).

    Example sentencesExamples
    • Further, if we recall the great size of a typical elephant, the figure of Coryate is out of scale, much too large.

Phrases

  • the elephant in the room

    • A major problem or controversial issue that is obviously present but avoided as a subject for discussion because it is more comfortable to do so.

      they've steadfastly ignored the elephant in the room: the ever-growing debt burden on graduates
      Example sentencesExamples
      • It's an OK article, but Rodriguez ignores the elephant in the room when discussing Kasparov's political fortunes in Russia: he's Jewish.
      • It's the elephant in the room that everybody avoids talking about, isn't it?
      • It's time for both sides to acknowledge the elephant in the room: we are exporting America's quality of life.
      • I'm sorry, that is a big - that is the elephant in the room.
      • Equally unhealthy is a refusal to admit there is another view or to admit the presence of the elephant in the room.
      • Here in Britain the issue of illegal immigration used to be like the elephant in the room that everyone pretended not to notice.
      • But the Iraq issue was the elephant in the room, the issue that the two leaders could not ignore.
      • I also think the Small decisions are interesting because they completely avoid the elephant in the room: the Second Amendment.
      • They do an admirable job of laying out the data, and the financial issues facing societies with ageing populations, with one major exception: they ignore the elephant in the room.
      • But the elephant in the room, as the policy grinds forward, is US corporate involvement in Colombia.

Origin

Middle English: from Old French elefant, via Latin from Greek elephas, elephant- ‘ivory, elephant’.

 
 
随便看

 

英语词典包含464360条英英释义在线翻译词条,基本涵盖了全部常用单词的英英翻译及用法,是英语学习的有利工具。

 

Copyright © 2004-2022 Newdu.com All Rights Reserved
更新时间:2024/9/20 23:35:14