elephant

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun Any of several very large herbivorous mammals of the family Elephantidae native to Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, having thick, almost hairless skin, a long, flexible, prehensile trunk, upper incisors forming long curved tusks of ivory, and, in the African species, large fan-shaped ears.
• noun Any of various extinct animals of the family Elephantidae.
• idiom (elephant in the room) A matter or problem that is obvious or of great importance but that is not discussed openly.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A five-toed proboscidian mammal, of the genus Elephas, constituting a subfamily, Elephantinæ, and comprehending two living species, namely, Elephas indicus and Elephas (Loxodon) africanus.
• noun The former inhabits India, and is characterized by a concave high forehead, small ears, and comparatively small tusks; the latter is found in Africa, and has a convex forehead, great flapping ears, and large tusks. The tusks occur in both sexes, curving upward from the extremity of the upper jaw. The nose is prolonged into a cylindrical trunk or proboscis, at the extremity of which the nostrils open. The trunk is extremely flexible and highly sensitive, and terminates in a finger-like prehensile lobe. Elephants are the largest quadrupeds at present existing. Their tusks are of great value as ivory, furnishing an important article of commerce, in Africa especially, and occasioning the destruction of great numbers of these animals. Ten species of fossil elephants have been described, of which the best-known is the hairy mammoth, E. primigenius. The mastodons are nearly related to elephants, but form a separate subfamily Mastodontinæ (which see).
• noun Figuratively, a burdensome or perplexing possession or charge; something that one does not know what to do with or how to get rid of: as, to have an elephant on one's hands; he found his great house very much of an elephant.
• noun Ivory; the tusk of the elephant.
• noun A drawing-or writing-paper measuring in America 22x27 inches.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun (Zoöl.) A mammal of the order Proboscidia and family Elephantidae, of which two living species, Elephas maximus (formerly Elephas Indicus) and Loxodonta Africana (formerly E. Africanus), and several fossil species, are known. They have five toes, a long proboscis or trunk, and two large ivory tusks proceeding from the extremity of the upper jaw, and curving upwards. The molar teeth are large and have transverse folds. Elephants are the largest land animals now existing. The elephant is classed as a pachyderm.
• noun obsolete Ivory; the tusk of the elephant.
• noun (Bot.) an East Indian fruit with a rough, hard rind, and edible pulp, borne by Feronia elephantum, a large tree related to the orange.
• noun (Geol.) at Brighton, England, abounding in fossil remains of elephants.
• noun (Zoöl.) any very large beetle of the genus Goliathus (esp. G. giganteus), of the family Scarabæidæ. They inhabit West Africa.
• noun (Zoöl.) a chimæroid fish (Callorhynchus antarcticus), with a proboscis-like projection of the snout.
• noun paper of large size, 23 × 28 inches.
• noun paper measuring 263/4 × 40 inches. See Note under Paper.
• noun (Zoöl.) an African jumping shrew (Macroscelides typicus), having a long nose like a proboscis.
• noun (Bot.) a name given to certain species of the genus Begonia, which have immense one-sided leaves.
• noun (Bot.) A genus (Elephantopus) of coarse, composite weeds.
• noun (Zoöl.) the tooth shell. See Dentalium.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A mammal of the order Proboscidea, having a trunk, and two large ivory tusks jutting from the upper jaw.
• noun figuratively Anything huge and ponderous.
• noun paper, printing A printing-paper size measuring 30 inches x 22 inches.
• noun UK, childish used when counting to add length.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun five-toed pachyderm
• noun the symbol of the Republican Party; introduced in cartoons by Thomas Nast in 1874