elephant

noun, often attributive

el·e·phant | \ ˈe-lə-fənt

plural elephants also elephant

Definition of elephant

1a : a thickset, usually extremely large, nearly hairless, herbivorous mammal (family Elephantidae, the elephant family) that has a snout elongated into a muscular trunk and two incisors in the upper jaw developed especially in the male into long ivory tusks:

(1) : a tall, large-eared mammal (Loxodonta africana) of tropical Africa that is sometimes considered to comprise two separate species (L. africana of sub-Saharan savannas and L. cyclotis of central and western rain forests)

— called also African elephant

(2) : a relatively small-eared mammal (Elephas maximus) of forests of southeastern Asia

— called also Asian elephant, Indian elephant

b : any of various extinct relatives of the elephant — see mammoth, mastodon

2 : one that is uncommonly large or hard to manage

Synonyms & Antonyms Example Sentences Learn More about elephant

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Examples of elephant in a Sentence

by any standard, the new shopping mall will be an elephant and one that is certain to alter the retail landscape

Recent Examples on the Web

Imagine being chased through a Mad Max hellscape by immortal butterflies the size of elephants. — Jacqueline Detwiler, Popular Mechanics, "What Will Be the Last Fish?," 10 Dec. 2018 Back at my hotel, gigantic elephant-ear leaves are greener and darting lizards brighter, while the rain plops down in Dolby. — Alex Postman, Condé Nast Traveler, "Finding the Bali You Came For," 16 Nov. 2018 Thousands of elephants are killed every year in Africa, so our government banned the trade in tusks. — Klara Glowczewska, Town & Country, "Meet the Chinese Philanthropists Who Are Pledging Big Money to End Climate Change," 25 May 2018 Also, some light details on the map, which stretches from Britain to India and features 7000 cities, and a brief mention of war elephants. — Hayden Dingman, PCWorld, "PdxCon 2018: Paradox reveals Imperator Rome, Age of Wonders: Planetfall, and board games," 19 May 2018 Tens of thousands of elephants have been poached for their ivory, decimating their populations in Africa. — Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, "Earthquake-Monitoring Technology May Help Protect Elephants from Poachers," 9 May 2018 The treatment of elephants, in particular, has disturbed the animal welfare community. — Nancy Trejos, USA TODAY, "Animal welfare for travelers: How to enjoy wildlife without harming it," 27 Apr. 2018 And in May, the theme is things in the zoo that are big: long giraffe necks, huge hippo teeth and big elephant ears. — Amy Schwabe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "The whole family, from infant to grandma, is invited to register for spring zoo classes," 27 Oct. 2017 After pressing on your narwhal, unicorn, elephant, or penguin, each slowly rises back to its original form for a soft and squishy good time. — Megan Stein, Country Living, "If Your Kids Love Hatchimals They're Going to Freak Over This New Squeezamals Game," 9 Jan. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'elephant.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

14 Feb 2019

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Time Traveler for elephant

The first known use of elephant was in the 14th century

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More Definitions for elephant

elephant

noun

Financial Definition of elephant

What It Is

Elephants are large institutions that make big trades.

How It Works

CalPERS (the California Public Employees' Retirement System) is the nation's largest pension fund. More than 1.6 million people there are employees of public institutions such as schools and local governments. To ensure that the fund has enough money to make pension payments when employees retire, it invests that money in stocks, bonds, venture capital, real estate and a variety of other assets. In 2012, CalPERS had about $234 billion invested and another $3 billion in cash.

Accordingly, it can make some very large trades and has a lot of influence in the market. CalPERS can also be a source of capital for growing companies: It invested $34.2 billion in private equity in 2012.

Why It Matters

When elephants make trades, they are often large trades that can spike (or tank) the price of a stock or other security quickly. Elephants aren't just big influencers of the markets; they're big "gets" for brokerage firms, advisory firms, or any other financial institution that retains them as customers. After all, fees are often a percentage of trade size or asset size, and thus it's usually a big deal to "bag an elephant."

Source: Investing Answers

elephant

noun