elephantish

Adjective

elephantish (comparative more elephantish, superlative most elephantish)

1. Resembling an elephant.
   • It is an extinct animal, and on the whole was elephantish, but belonged to the genus Dinotherium, of the group Pachydermata or Proboscidea, to which the mammoth and elephant belong.1877, Robert Brown, Science for All, volume 4, page 336, column 2
   • They’d watched a herd of cat-sized lizards hunting massive elephantish creatures.2015, Tim Lebbon, Predator: Incursion, Titan Books, page 90
   1. Big, clumsy, or awkward.
      • The majority of women in the current study did voice a dislike of pregnancy for reasons to do with the inherent unpleasantness of being ‘too fat’, ‘out of control’, ‘elephantish’, ‘heavy’, and being unable to fit into ordinary clothes.1980, Ann Oakley, Women Confined: Towards a Sociology of Childbirth, Martin Robertson, page 211
      • Even Clementine sighed, in an elephantish way.2016, Micol Ostow, Louise Trapeze Can SO Save the Day, Random House, page 53
2. Characteristic of an elephant.
   • The cleverest but one of all the animals in the circus was the elephant, and he hated the circus man too, and hated having to do silly tricks, which weren’t really a bit elephantish, but only stupid.1960, Richard Hughes, The Spider's Palace, and Other Stories, Puffin Books, page 41
   • Thus an elephant remains the same elephant although it changes size (within limits), provided it keeps other elephantish features.1976, Keith Campbell, Metaphysics: An Introduction, Dickenson Publishing Company, page 80