elephantine

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: el=e=phan=tine

CIDE DICTIONARY

elephantine, a. [L. elephantinus of ivory, Gr. : cf. F. éléphantin.].

 Pertaining to the elephant, or resembling an elephant (commonly, in size); hence, huge; immense; heavy; as, of elephantine proportions; an elephantine step or tread.  [1913 Webster]

Elephantine epoch (Geol.), the epoch distinguished by the existence of large pachyderms. Mantell. -- Elephantine tortoise (Zoöl.), a huge land tortoise; esp., Testudo elephantina, from islands in the Indian Ocean; and T. elephantopus, from the Galapagos Islands.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

elephantine, adj.
1 of elephants.
2 a huge. b clumsy, unwieldy (elephantine movements; elephantine humour).

Etymology

L elephantinus f. Gk elephantinos (as ELEPHANT)

THESAURUS

elephantine

Atlantean, Brobdingnagian, Cyclopean, Gargantuan, Herculean, Homeric, Latinate, abysmal, arid, astronomic, awkward, barren, blah, blank, bloodless, bombastic, bulky, characterless, clumsy, cold, colorless, colossal, cramped, cumbersome, cumbrous, dead, dismal, draggy, drearisome, dreary, dry, dryasdust, dull, dusty, effete, elephantlike, empty, enormous, epic, etiolated, fade, flat, forced, formal, gargantuan, giant, giantlike, gigantic, graceless, guinde, halting, heavy, heavy-handed, heroic, ho-hum, hollow, huge, hulking, hulky, immense, inane, inexcitable, infinite, inkhorn, insipid, jejune, jumbo, labored, leaden, lifeless, low-spirited, lubberly, lumbering, lumpish, lumpy, maladroit, mammoth, massive, massy, mighty, monster, monstrous, monumental, mountainous, pale, pallid, pedestrian, plodding, pointless, poky, pompous, ponderous, prodigious, profound, sesquipedalian, slow, solemn, spiritless, sterile, stiff, stilted, stodgy, stuffy, stupendous, superficial, tasteless, tedious, titanic, towering, tremendous, turgid, ungraceful, uninspired, unlively, unwieldy, vapid, vast, wooden

ROGET THESAURUS

elephantine

Size

N size, magnitude, dimension, bulk, volume, largeness, greatness, expanse, amplitude, mass, proportions, capacity, tonnage, tunnage, cordage, caliber, scantling, turgidity, corpulence, obesity, plumpness, embonpoint, corporation, flesh and blood, lustihood, hugeness, enormity, immensity, monstrosity, giant, Brobdingnagian, Antaeus, Goliath, Gog and Magog, Gargantua, monster, mammoth, Cyclops, cachalot, whale, porpoise, behemoth, leviathan, elephant, hippopotamus, colossus, tun, cord, lump, bulk, block, loaf, mass, swad, clod, nugget, bushel, thumper, whooper, spanker, strapper, Triton among the minnows, mountain, mound, heap, largest portion, full size, life size, large, big, great, considerable, bulky, voluminous, ample, massive, massy, capacious, comprehensive, spacious, mighty, towering, fine, magnificent, corpulent, stout, fat, obese, plump, squab, full, lusty, strapping, bouncing, portly, burly, well-fed, full-grown, corn fed, gram fed, stalwart, brawny, fleshy, goodly, in good case, in good condition, in condition, chopping, jolly, chub faced, chubby faced, lubberly, hulky, unwieldy, lumpish, gaunt, spanking, whacking, whopping, walloping, thumping, thundering, hulking, overgrown, puffy, huge, immense, enormous, mighty, vast, vasty, amplitudinous, stupendous, monster, monstrous, humongous, monumental, elephantine, jumbo, mammoth, gigantic, gigantean, giant, giant like, titanic, prodigious, colossal, Cyclopean, Brobdingnagian, Bunyanesque, Herculean, Gargantuan, infinite, large as life, plump as a dumpling, plump as a partridge, fat as a pig, fat as a quail, fat as butter, fat as brawn, fat as bacon, immeasurable, unfathomable, unplumbed, inconceivable, unimaginable, unheard-of, of cosmic proportions, of epic proportions, the mother of all, teh granddaddy of all.