elephant

noun, often attributive el·e·phant \ ˈe-lə-fənt \

|Updated on: 20 Jun 2018

Definition of elephant

plural elephants also elephant

1 a : 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

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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 of elephant from the Web

The program includes weekly blood tests with same-day results for all the elephants.

— jennifer radcliffe, Houston Chronicle, "Houston Zoo welcomes 345-pound elephant calf born on Father's Day," 17 June 2018
More pathways will be built to allow visitors to view the elephants from multiple vantage points.

— mary carole mccauley, baltimoresun.com, "As Maryland Zoo continues its $20 million renovation, some animals will be out of view," 7 June 2018
Infuriating, because the baby elephant needs an armed guard — otherwise people will shoot it for fun.

— lisa scottoline, Philly.com, "Internet hacks get on my last nerve | Lisa Scottoline," 1 June 2018
This might just be arranging furniture around the elephant, though.

— carolyn hax, The Seattle Times, "Tough love for a relative who refuses to get treated for anxiety," 27 May 2018
Mdou Moctar’s albums bring to mind the parable of the blind men and the elephant; taken individually, each one gives a misleading impression of the Nigerien artist’s full measure.

— bill meyer, Chicago Reader, "The stylistic range of Tuareg guitarist Mdou Moctar runs as deep as the communal roots of his music," 25 May 2018
The elephants on our planet right now can't tolerate the cold climate of the steppe.

— yasemin saplakoglu, Fox News, "Could reviving Woolly-Mammoth genes fight the effects of global warming?," 17 May 2018
Rani became pregnant three times but sadly none of the baby elephants lived past infancy.

— CBS News, "Spike, the National Zoo's new elephant, hits it off with an old flame," 9 May 2018
The elephant made a scene on its way out of the room.

— jeremy woo, SI.com, "Chris Paul's Conference Finals Elephant Has Left the Room," 8 May 2018

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.

Illustration of elephant

Origin and Etymology of elephant

Middle English, from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French olifant, elefant, from L. elephantus, from Greek elephant-, elephas

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

elephant Synonyms

Other Mammals Terms

dormouse, dugong, gibbon, grimalkin, sable, stoat, ungulate, vole

Financial Definition of ELEPHANT

elephant

noun

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