Adjacent Words

white elephant definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a valuable possession whose upkeep is excessively expensive
2: albinic Indian elephant; rare and sometimes venerated in east Asia

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 15th century 1. an Indian elephant of a pale color that is sometimes venerated in India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Myanmar 2. a. a property requiring much care and expense and yielding little profit b. an object no longer of value to its owner but of value to others c. something of little or no value

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

White White, a. [Compar. Whiter; superl. Whitest.] [OE. whit, AS. hw?t; akin to OFries. and OS. hw[=i]t, D. wit, G. weiss, OHG. w[=i]z, hw[=i]z, Icel. hv[=i]tr, Sw. hvit, Dan. hvid, Goth. hweits, Lith. szveisti, to make bright, Russ. sviet' light, Skr. ?v?ta white, ?vit to be bright. ???. Cf. Wheat, Whitsunday.] 1. Reflecting to the eye all the rays of the spectrum combined; not tinted with any of the proper colors or their mixtures; having the color of pure snow; snowy; -- the opposite of black or dark; as, white paper; a white skin. ``Pearls white.'' --Chaucer. White as the whitest lily on a stream. --Longfellow. 2. Destitute of color, as in the cheeks, or of the tinge of blood color; pale; pallid; as, white with fear. Or whispering with white lips, ``The foe! They come! they come!'' --Byron. 3. Having the color of purity; free from spot or blemish, or from guilt or pollution; innocent; pure. White as thy fame, and as thy honor clear. --Dryden. No whiter page than Addison's remains. --Pope. 4. Gray, as from age; having silvery hair; hoary. Your high engendered battles 'gainst a head So old and white as this. --Shak. 5. Characterized by freedom from that which disturbs, and the like; fortunate; happy; favorable. On the whole, however, the dominie reckoned this as one of the white days of his life. --Sir W. Scott. 6. Regarded with especial favor; favorite; darling. Come forth, my white spouse. --Chaucer. I am his white boy, and will not be gullet. --Ford. Note: White is used in many self-explaining compounds, as white-backed, white-bearded, white-footed. White alder. (Bot.) See Sweet pepper bush, under Pepper. White ant (Zo["o]l.), any one of numerous species of social pseudoneuropterous insects of the genus Termes. These insects are very abundant in tropical countries, and form large and complex communities consisting of numerous asexual workers of one or more kinds, of large-headed asexual individuals called soldiers, of one or more queens (or fertile females) often having the body enormously distended by the eggs, and, at certain seasons of numerous winged males, together with the larv[ae] and pup[ae] of each kind in various stages of development. Many of the species construct large and complicated nests, sometimes in the form of domelike structures rising several feet above the ground and connected with extensive subterranean galleries and chambers. In their social habits they closely resemble the true ants. They feed upon animal and vegetable substances of various kinds, including timber, and are often very destructive to buildings and furniture. White arsenic (Chem.), arsenious oxide, As2O3, a substance of a white color, and vitreous adamantine luster, having an astringent, sweetish taste. It is a deadly poison. White bass (Zo["o]l.), a fresh-water North American bass (Roccus chrysops) found in the Great Likes. White bear (Zo["o]l.), the polar bear. See under Polar. White blood cell. (Physiol.) See Leucocyte. White brand (Zo["o]l.), the snow goose. White brass, a white alloy of copper; white copper. White campion. (Bot.) (a) A kind of catchfly (Silene stellata) with white flowers. (b) A white-flowered Lychnis (Lychnis vespertina). White canon (R. C. Ch.), a Premonstratensian. White caps, the members of a secret organization in various of the United States, who attempt to drive away or reform obnoxious persons by lynch-law methods. They appear masked in white. White cedar (Bot.), an evergreen tree of North America (Thuja occidentalis), also the related Cupressus thyoides, or Cham[ae]cyparis sph[ae]roidea, a slender evergreen conifer which grows in the so-called cedar swamps of the Northern and Atlantic States. Both are much valued for their durable timber. In California the name is given to the Libocedrus decurrens, the timber of which is also useful, though often subject to dry rot. --Goodale. The white cedar of Demerara, Guiana, etc., is a lofty tree (Icica, or Bursera, altissima) whose fragrant wood is used for canoes and cabinetwork, as it is not attacked by insect. White cell. (Physiol.) See Leucocyte. White cell-blood (Med.), leucocyth[ae]mia. White clover (Bot.), a species of small perennial clover bearing white flowers. It furnishes excellent food for cattle and horses, as well as for the honeybee. See also under Clover. White copper, a whitish alloy of copper. See German silver, under German. White copperas (Min.), a native hydrous sulphate of iron; coquimbite. White coral (Zo["o]l.), an ornamental branched coral (Amphihelia oculata) native of the Mediterranean. White corpuscle. (Physiol.) See Leucocyte. White cricket (Zo["o]l.), the tree cricket. White crop, a crop of grain which loses its green color, or becomes white, in ripening, as wheat, rye, barley, and oats, as distinguished from a green crop, or a root crop. White currant (Bot.), a variety of the common red currant, having white berries. White daisy (Bot.), the oxeye daisy. See under Daisy. White damp, a kind of poisonous gas encountered in coal mines. --Raymond. White elephant (Zo["o]l.), a whitish, or albino, variety of the Asiatic elephant.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

White elephant White elephant Something requiring much care and expense and yielding little profit; any burdensome possession. [Slang]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(white elephants) If you describe something as a white elephant, you mean that it is a waste of money because it is completely useless. The pavilion has become a £14 million steel and glass white elephant. N-COUNT [disapproval]

Moby Thesaurus

Christmas present, award, birthday present, box, burden, burthen, cadeau, cargo, charge, cross, cumbrance, deadweight, difficulty, disadvantage, embarrassment, encumbrance, fairing, freight, gift, hamper, handicap, handsel, impediment, impedimenta, imposition, inconvenience, load, lumber, oblation, offering, onus, pack, peace offering, penalty, present, presentation, tribute, trouble, weight