Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - elephant

 noun  (plural ~s; also ~)  Usage: often attributive  Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French olifant, elefant, from L. ~us, from Greek ~-, elephas  Date: 14th century  1. any of a family (Elephantidae, the ~ family) of thickset usually extremely large nearly hairless herbivorous mammals that have a snout elongated into a muscular trunk and two incisors in the upper jaw developed especially in the male into large ivory tusks and that include two living forms and various extinct relatives: as  a. a tall large-eared mammal (Loxodonta africana) of tropical Africa — called also African ~  b. a relatively small-eared mammal (Elephas maximus) of forests of southeastern Asia — called also Asian ~, Indian ~  2. an animal or fossil related to the ~s  3. one that is uncommonly large or hard to manage