mammoth

woolly mammoth Mammuthus primigenius

mam·moth

(măm′əth)

1. Any of various extinct elephants of the genus Mammuthus of the Pliocene, Pleistocene, and Holocene Epochs, having ridged molars and often, as in the woolly mammoth, long tusks and hair.

2. Something that is of great size.

adj.

1. Of enormous size, extent, or amount; huge. See Synonyms at enormous.

2. Of great scope or importance: mammoth expectations.

[Ultimately (perhaps influenced by behemoth) from Russian mamont, mamot, probably from earlier Mansi (Ugric language of western Siberia) *mān-oŋt- : *mān, earth (akin to modern Mansi mā-, earth, as in mā-xar, mammoth (literally, "earth stag")) + *oŋt-, horn (in reference to fossil mammoth tusks).]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

mammoth

(ˈmæməθ)

1. (Palaeontology) any large extinct elephant of the Pleistocene genus Mammuthus (or Elephas), such as M. primigenius (woolly mammoth), having a hairy coat and long curved tusks

2. (Animals) any large extinct elephant of the Pleistocene genus Mammuthus (or Elephas), such as M. primigenius (woolly mammoth), having a hairy coat and long curved tusks

adj

of gigantic size or importance

[C18: from Russian mamot, from Tatar mamont, perhaps from mamma earth, because of a belief that the animal made burrows]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

mam•moth

(ˈmæm əθ)

n.

1. any extinct true elephant of the family Elephantidae, esp. of the Pleistocene genus Mammuthus. Compare mastodon.

2. anything very large.

adj.

3. very large; enormous.

[1690–1700; < Russian mam(m)ot; orig. uncertain]

syn: See gigantic.

mam·moth

(măm′əth)

Any of various extinct elephants of very large size that had long, upwardly curving tusks and thick hair. Mammoths lived throughout the Northern Hemisphere during the Ice Age.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	mammoth - any of numerous extinct elephants widely distributed in the Pleistocene; extremely large with hairy coats and long upcurved tusks proboscis, trunk - a long flexible snout as of an elephant elephant - five-toed pachyderm genus Mammuthus, Mammuthus - extinct genus: mammoths Mammuthus primigenius, northern mammoth, woolly mammoth - very hairy mammoth common in colder portions of the northern hemisphere columbian mammoth, Mammuthus columbi - a variety of mammoth Archidiskidon imperator, imperial elephant, imperial mammoth - largest known mammoth; of America
Adj.	1.	mammoth - so exceedingly large or extensive as to suggest a giant or mammoth; "a gigantic redwood"; "gigantic disappointment"; "a mammoth ship"; "a mammoth multinational corporation" gigantic big, large - above average in size or number or quantity or magnitude or extent; "a large city"; "set out for the big city"; "a large sum"; "a big (or large) barn"; "a large family"; "big businesses"; "a big expenditure"; "a large number of newspapers"; "a big group of scientists"; "large areas of the world"

mammoth

adjective colossal, huge, giant, massive, vast, enormous, mighty, immense, titanic, jumbo (informal), gigantic, monumental, mountainous, stellar (informal), prodigious, stupendous, gargantuan, elephantine, ginormous (informal), Brobdingnagian, humongous or humungous (U.S. slang) The mammoth undertaking was completed in 18 months.
little, small, minute, tiny, miniature, trivial, insignificant, diminutive, puny

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

mammoth

noun

One that is extraordinarily large and powerful:

behemoth, giant, Goliath, jumbo, leviathan, monster, titan.

Slang: whopper.

adjective

Of extraordinary size and power:

Informal: walloping.

Slang: whopping.

Translations

ضَخْم مَامُوثماموث، فيل ضَخْمهائِل، ضَخْم

мамут

mamutmamutí

mammutkæmpe

Mammut riesig gigantisch

μαμούθ πελώριος

mamut colosal

mammuttijättiläiskokoinen

mammouth géant gigantesque

golemmamut

mamut

mammut

gríîarstórmammút

mammut enorme gigantesco

マンモス巨大な

매머드엄청난

mamutas

mamutsmilzīgs

mamutí

mamut

mamutмамут

mammutkolossal

มหึมา

mamut dev gibi devasa

мамонт

khổng lồvoi mamút

巨大的猛犸长毛象

mammoth

[ˈmæməθ]

A. N (Zool) → mamut m

B. ADJ → descomunal, gigante

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

mammoth

[ˈmæməθ]

n (= animal) → mammouth m

modif [tusk, skull] → de mammouth

adj (= huge) → colossal(e), monstre
a mammoth task → un travail monstre

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

mammoth

n → Mammut nt

adj → Mammut-; cost, enterprise → kolossal; change → gewaltig; proportions → riesig; a mammoth task → eine Mammutaufgabe, eine kolossale Aufgabe

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

mammoth

[ˈmæməθ]

1. n → mammut m inv

2. adj → colossale, mostruoso/a, enorme, gigantesco/a

mammoth

(ˈmӕməθ) noun

a large hairy elephant of a kind no longer found living.

adjective

very large (and often very difficult). a mammoth project/task.

mammoth

→ ضَخْم, مَامُوث mamut, mamutí kæmpe, mammut Mammut, riesig μαμούθ, πελώριος colosal, mamut jättiläiskokoinen, mammutti gigantesque, mammouth golem, mamut gigantesco, mammut マンモス, 巨大な 매머드, 엄청난 mammoet, mammoet- diger, mammut gigantyczny, mamut imenso, mamute гигантский, мамонт kolossal, mammut มหึมา, สัตว์ขนาดใหญ่คล้ายช้างขนยาว งาโค้งยาวสูญพันธุ์ไปแล้ว devasa, mamut khổng lồ, voi mamút 巨大的, 猛犸

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

The Celestial Bottle.--The Fig-Palms.--The Mammoth Trees.--The Tree of War.--The Winged Team.--Two Native Tribes in Battle.--A Massacre.--An Intervention from above.

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Let us now with whatever levers and steam-engines we have at hand, cant over the sperm whale's head, so that it may lie bottom up; then, ascending by a ladder to the summit, have a peep down the mouth; and were it not that the body is now completely separated from it, with a lantern we might descend into the great Kentucky Mammoth Cave of his stomach.

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{caverns of Kentucky = Mammoth Cave; Chimborazo = a 20,500 foot volcano in Ecuador}

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Which is always a tremendous task, dear friends--a mammoth task.

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The mammoth grand-stand was clothed in flags, streamers, and rich tapestries, and packed with several acres of small-fry tributary kings, their suites, and the British aristocracy; with our own royal gang in the chief place, and each and every individual a flashing prism of gaudy silks and velvets -- well, I never saw anything to begin with it but a fight between an Upper Mississippi sunset and the aurora borealis.

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That, however, will surprise you the less when I pause to declare that I have paid as much as four shillings and sixpence for half a loaf of execrable bread; that my mate and I, between us, seldom took more than a few pennyweights of gold-dust in any one day; and never once struck pick into nugget, big or little, though we had the mortification of inspecting the "mammoth masses" of which we found the papers full on landing, and which had brought the gold-fever to its height during our very voyage.

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My mammoth enemy was so close by this time that I knew I must feel the weight of one of his terrible paws before I could rise, but to my surprise the blow did not fall upon me.

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From behind my boulder I threw up the heavy express rifle--a mighty engine of destruction that might bring down a cave bear or a mammoth at a single shot--and let drive at the Sagoth's broad, hairy breast.

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There will be blackberries--Burbank's, he lives at Santa Rosa--Loganberries, Mammoth berries.

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"This lad will be an honor to his people," said Hawkeye, regarding the trail with as much admiration as a naturalist would expend on the tusk of a mammoth or the rib of a mastodon; "ay, and a thorn in the sides of the Hurons.

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His shrieks had brought both his father and herself flying to the hog barn to find him dancing up and down as, frightened and aghast, he vainly attempted to beat off old Dorcas, a mammoth sow, from one of her day-old litter on which, having crushed it by accident, she was now quite deliberately feasting.

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A gorgeous, barbaric procession of painted warriors in jewel-studded harness and waving feathers; vicious, squealing thoats caparisoned in rich trappings; far above their heads the long lances of their riders bore fluttering pennons; foot-soldiers swinging easily along the stone pavement, their sandals of zitidar hide giving forth no sound; and at the rear of each utan a train of painted chariots, drawn by mammoth zitidars, carrying the equipment of the company to which they were attached.

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