Elephantine

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Elephantine \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.
     [1913 Webster]


  
     {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.
        Elephantoid

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  elephantine
       adj : of great mass; huge and bulky; "a jumbo jet"; "jumbo shrimp"
             [syn: {gargantuan}, {giant}, {jumbo}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  118 Moby Thesaurus words for "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
  
  

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  elephantine adj. Used of programs or systems that are both conspicuous
     {hog}s (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}.
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  elephantine
       
          Used of programs or systems that are both conspicuous {hog}s
          (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}]