mammoths

Noun

mammoth (plural mammoths)

1. Any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus, of large, usually hairy, elephant-like mammals with long curved tusks and an inclined back, which became extinct with the last retreat of ice age glaciers during the late Pleistocene period, and are known from fossils, frozen carcasses, and Paleolithic cave paintings found in North America and Eurasia.
   • Maimanto, as they say a sea elephant which is never seene, but accordinge to the Samuites he workes himselfe under grownde and so they finde his teeth or homes or bones in Pechore and Nova Zemla of which they […]1618, Richard James, “The Implications of James's Maimanto”, in Robert Auty, I. P. Foote, editors, Oxford Slavonic Papers. New Series., volume 9, Clarendon Press, published 1976, Dictionariolum...
2. (obsolete) A mastodon.
   • Many of our readers will remember the skeleton of the American mammoth, now the Mastodonton, being exhibited in London by Mr. Rembrandt Peale.1812, Samuel Fothergill, William Royston, “Half-yearly View of the Progress of Medicine”, in The Medical and Physical Journal, volume 27, London: Richard Phillips, page 24
3. (figuratively) Something very large of its kind.
   • The last load, as we Yankees say, was a "Mammoth": […] producing an aggregate of nearly twelve cords.1802, Richard Hopwood Thornton, edited by Louise Wardell Hanley, An American Glossary: Being an Attempt to Illustrate Certain Americanisms Upon Historical Principles, volume 2, Philadelphia: J. B....
4. A kind of large donkey.
   • Mammoths are taller than 54 inches. Each can carry up to 25% of its weight in combined tack, supplies, and rider.2023, C. B. Chastain, Concise Textbook of Large Animal Handling: A Practical Handbook, pages 4-60

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