释义 |
el·e·phant \ˈeləfənt\ noun (-s) Etymology: Middle English olifaunt, elephant, from Old French & Latin; Old French olifant elephant, ivory, from Latin elephantus, from Greek elephant-, elephas, perhaps of Hamitic origin; akin to Egyptian ˒ʾb(w) elephant, ivory 1. a. : any of certain thickset mostly very large nearly hairless four-footed mammals of the family Elephantidae especially of the genera Elephas and Loxodonta having the snout prolonged into a muscular trunk, two incisors in the upper jaw developed especially in the male into long curved tusks which furnish ivory, the head large with much diploic tissue and a well-developed brain, and the feet short and rounded with five toes b. : an animal of the order Proboscidea — see mammoth, mastodon 2. : one that is an uncommonly large specimen of its kind < he was an elephant of a man > 3. : a size of paper ranging from 20×27 to 23×30 inches 4. : a grooving and rabbeting machine [elephant: 1 African, 2 Asian] |