Definitions

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

  • noun Any of various large, thick-skinned, hoofed mammals such as the elephant, rhinoceros, or hippopotamus.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Thick-skinned, as a member of the Pachydermata. Also pachydermal, pachydermatous, pachydermous.
  • noun A non-ruminant hoofed quadruped; any member of the old order Pachydermata.

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

  • noun (Zoöl.) Any of various nonruminant hoofed mammals having very thick skin, including the elephant, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus, one of the Pachydermata.

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

  • noun Someone (or something) with thick skin. It is used for animals such as an elephant or a hippopotamus.
  • noun zoology A member of the obsolete taxonomic group Pachydermata, grouping of thick-skinned, hoofed animals such as the rhinoceros, hippopotamus, elephant, pig and horse.
  • noun informal An elephant
  • noun idiomatic A person that is not affected by (does not care about) what others say about him or her.
  • noun idiomatic Someone who is insensitive.

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

  • noun any of various nonruminant hoofed mammals having very thick skin: elephant; rhinoceros; hippopotamus

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French pachyderme, from New Latin Pachydermata, former order name, from Greek pakhudermos, thick-skinned : pakhus, thick + derma, skin; see derma.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

pachy- + derma, from Ancient Greek παχύδερμος (pakhudermos), from παχύς (pakhus, "thick") + δέρμα (derma, "skin").

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