Meaning of ELEPHANTINE
| Pronunciation: | | `elu'fantin
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 WordNet Dictionary |
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| | Definition: | | [adj] of great mass; huge and bulky; "a jumbo jet"; "jumbo shrimp" |
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| | Synonyms: | | big, gargantuan, giant, jumbo, large |
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| Webster's 1913 Dictionary |
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| | Definition: | | \El`e*phan"tine\, a. [L. elephantinus of ivory, Gr.
?: cf. F. ['e]l['e]phantin.]
Pertaining to the elephant, or resembling an elephant
(commonly, in size); hence, huge; immense; heavy; as, of
elephantine proportions; an elephantine step or tread.
{Elephantine epoch} (Geol.), the epoch distinguished by the
existence of large pachyderms. --Mantell.
{Elephantine tortoise} (Zo["o]l.), a huge land tortoise;
esp., {Testudo elephantina}, from islands in the Indian
Ocean; and {T. elephantopus}, from the Galapagos Islands.
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| Computing Dictionary |
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| | Definition: | | Used of programs or systems that are both conspicuous hogs (owing perhaps to poor design founded on brute force and ignorance) and exceedingly hairy in source form. An elephantine program may be functional and even friendly, but (as in the old joke about being in bed with an elephant) it's tough to have around all the same (and, like a pachyderm, difficult to maintain). In extreme cases, hackers have been known to make trumpeting sounds or perform expressive proboscatory mime at the mention of the offending program. Usage: semi-humorous. Compare "has the elephant nature" and the somewhat more pejorative monstrosity. See also second-system effect and baroque. [Jargon File] |
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| Thesaurus Terms |
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| | Related Terms: | | abysmal, arid, astronomic, Atlantean, awkward, barren, blah, blank, bloodless, bombastic, Brobdingnagian, bulky, characterless, clumsy, cold, colorless, colossal, cramped, cumbersome, cumbrous, Cyclopean, 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, Herculean, heroic, ho-hum, hollow, Homeric, huge, hulking, hulky, immense, inane, inexcitable, infinite, inkhorn, insipid, jejune, jumbo, labored, Latinate, 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 |
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