elephant : Idioms & Phrases

Index

african elephant

  • noun an elephant native to Africa having enormous flapping ears and ivory tusks
    Loxodonta africana.
WordNet

Double elephant paper

  • paper measuring 26 × 40 inches. See Note under Paper.
Webster 1913

Elephant apple

  • (Bot.), an East Indian fruit with a rough, hard rind, and edible pulp, borne by Feronia elephantum, a large tree related to the orange.
Webster 1913

Elephant bed

  • (Geol.), at Brighton, England, abounding in fossil remains of elephants. Mantell.
Webster 1913

Elephant beetle

  • (Zoöl.), any very large beetle of the genus Goliathus (esp. G. giganteus), of the family Scarabæidæ. They inhabit West Africa.
Webster 1913

elephant bird

  • noun huge (to 9 ft.) extinct flightless bird of Madagascar
    aepyornis.
WordNet

elephant ear

  • noun any plant of the genus Alocasia having large showy basal leaves and boat-shaped spathe and reddish berries
    elephant ear; alocasia.
WordNet

Elephant fish

  • (Zoöl.), a chimæroid fish (Callorhynchus antarcticus), with a proboscis-like projection of the snout.
Webster 1913

Elephant paper

  • paper of large size, 23 × 28 inches.
Webster 1913

Elephant seal

  • noun either of two large northern Atlantic earless seals having snouts like trunks
    elephant seal.
WordNet
  • (Zoöl.), an African jumping shrew (Macroscelides typicus), having a long nose like a proboscis.
Webster 1913

elephant tree

  • noun small tree or shrub of the southwestern United States having a spicy odor and odd-pinnate leaves and small clusters of white flowers
    Bursera microphylla.
WordNet

elephant yam

  • noun putrid-smelling aroid of southeastern Asia (especially the Philippines) grown for its edible tuber
    telingo potato; pungapung; Amorphophallus campanulatus; Amorphophallus paeonifolius.
WordNet

Elephant's ear

  • noun any plant of the genus Alocasia having large showy basal leaves and boat-shaped spathe and reddish berries
    elephant ear; alocasia.
  • noun tropical South American tree having a wide-spreading crown of bipinnate leaves and coiled ear-shaped fruits; grown for shade and ornament as well as valuable timber
    Enterolobium cyclocarpa; conacaste.
WordNet
  • (Bot.), a name given to certain species of the genus Begonia, which have immense one-sided leaves.
Webster 1913

Elephant's foot

  • (Bot.) (a) A South African plant (Testudinaria Elephantipes), which has a massive rootstock covered with a kind of bark cracked with deep fissures; called also tortoise plant. The interior part is barely edible, whence the plant is also called Hottentot's bread. (b) A genus (Elephantopus) of coarse, composite weeds.
Webster 1913

Elephant's tusk

  • (Zoöl.), the tooth shell. See Dentalium.
Webster 1913

elephant's-foot

  • noun South African vine having a massive rootstock covered with deeply fissured bark
    Dioscorea elephantipes; tortoise plant; Hottentot's bread vine; Hottentot bread vine.
  • noun any plant of the genus Elephantopus having heads of blue or purple flowers; America
WordNet

elephant-tusk

  • noun annual of southern United States to Mexico having large whitish or yellowish flowers mottled with purple and a long curving beak
    common unicorn plant; ram's horn; Proboscidea louisianica; devil's claw; common devil's claw; proboscis flower.
WordNet

imperial elephant

  • noun largest known mammoth; of America
    imperial mammoth; Archidiskidon imperator.
WordNet

indian elephant

  • noun Asian elephant having smaller ears and tusks primarily in the male
    Elephas maximus.
WordNet

pink elephants

  • noun any visual hallucination arising from heavy drinking
WordNet

rogue elephant

  • noun a wild and vicious elephant separated from the herd
WordNet

sea elephant

  • noun either of two large northern Atlantic earless seals having snouts like trunks
    elephant seal.
WordNet
Sea" el"e*phant
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) A very large seal (Macrorhinus proboscideus) of the Antarctic seas, much hunted for its oil. It sometimes attains a length of thirty feet, and is remarkable for the prolongation of the nose of the adult male into an erectile elastic proboscis, about a foot in length. Another species of smaller size (M. angustirostris) occurs on the coast of Lower California, but is now nearly extinct.
Webster 1913

water elephant

Wa"ter el"e*phant
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) The hippopotamus. R.
Webster 1913

White elephant

  • noun a valuable possession whose upkeep is excessively expensive
  • noun albinic Indian elephant; rare and sometimes venerated in east Asia
WordNet
  • (Zoöl.), a whitish, or albino, variety of the Asiatic elephant. (b) Fig. an object of little value; esp. a property requiring expensive upkeep but of little value to the owner, and often one which is difficult to sell.
Webster 1913