elephant

英 [\"elɪf(ə)nt] 美 [\"ɛlɪfənt]

• 翻译

  n. 象；大号图画纸

英 [\"elɪf(ə)nt]||||||美 [\"ɛlɪfənt]

E

n. 象；大号图画纸

elephant 象

来自拉丁语elephantus，象。

elephant

elephant:

[13] Elephants were named from their tusks. Greek

eléphās

(probably a borrowing from a non-Indo-European language) meant originally ‘ivory’ (hence

chryselephantine

‘of golda,n,divory’ [19]). Only later did it come to denote the animal itself,a,n,dit passed in this sense into Latin as

elephantus

. By post-classical times this had become *

olifantus

,a,n,dit is a measure of the unfamiliarity of the beast in northern Europe in the first millenium AD that when Old English acquired the word, as

olfend

, it was used for the ‘camel’.

Old French also had

olifant

(referring to the ‘elephant’ this time)a,n,dpassed it on to English as

olifaunt

. It was not until the 14th century that, under the influence of the classical Latin form, this began to change to

elephant

. In the 16tha,n,d17th centuries there was a learned revival of the sense ‘ivory’: Alexander Pope, for instance, in his translation of the

Odyssey

1725, refers to ‘the handle … with steela,n,dpolish’d elephant adorn’d’.

The notion of the

white elephant

as ‘something unwanted’ arose apparently from the practice of the kings of Siam presenting courtiers who had incurred their displeasure with real white elephants, the cost of whose proper upkeep was ruinously high.

elephant (n.)

c. 1300,

olyfaunt

, from Old French

olifant

(12c., Modern French

éléphant

), from Latin

elephantus

, from Greek

elephas

(genitive

elephantos

) \\\\\\\"elephant; ivory,\\\\\\\" probably from a non-Indo-European language, likely via Phoenician (compare Hamitic

elu

\\\\\\\"elephant,\\\\\\\" source of the word for it in many Semitic languages,o,rpossibly from Sanskrit

ibhah

\\\\\\\"elephant\\\\\\\").

Re-spelled after 1550 on Latin model. Cognate with the common term for the animal in Romanica,n,dGermanic; Slavic words (for example Polish

slon\\\\\\\"

, Russian

slonu

are from a different word. Old English had it as

elpend

,a,n,dcompare

elpendban

,

elpentoð

\\\\\\\"ivory,\\\\\\\" but a confusion of exotic animals led to

olfend

\\\\\\\"camel.\\\\\\\"

As an emblem of the Republican Party in U.S. politics, 1860. To

see the elephant

\\\\\\\"be acquainted with life, gain knowledge by experience\\\\\\\" is an American English colloquialism from 1835. The

elephant joke

was popular 1960s-70s.

1. The pavilion has become a £4 million steela,n,dglass white

elephant

.

这个耗资400万英镑、用钢与玻璃所构筑起的亭子已经成了一个华而不实的摆设。

来自柯林斯例句

2. His tour de force is an

elephant

sculpture.

他的精心之作是一件大象雕塑。

来自柯林斯例句

3. The new office block has become an expensive white

elephant

.

这座新办公大楼成了昂贵的摆设。

来自《权威词典》

4. The hunter was trampled to death by a wild

elephant

.

那猎人被一头野象踩死了.

来自《简明英汉词典》

5. The animal in the picture was a female

elephant

.

照片上的动物是头母象.

来自《简明英汉词典》