elephant gun

noun

A large-calibre firearm capable of killing an elephant or other big game.

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Meanings

nounelephant gun (plural elephant guns)

plural elephant guns

  1. A large-calibre firearm capable of killing an elephant or other big game.

    Lord John was standing at gaze with his finger on the trigger of his elephant-gun, his eager hunter's soul shining from his fierce eyes.

    1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC
    1 more example

    In St. James's Street there used to be several shops which would sell you any form of lethalness, from a rook-rifle to an elephant-gun, with the greatest urbanity.

    1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 151

Translations

Finnish norsupyssy
  • norsupyssylarge-calibre firearm
Cite this entry
APA

elephant gun. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/elephant%20gun

MLA

“elephant gun.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/elephant%20gun. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “elephant gun,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/elephant%20gun.

Source: elephant gun on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.