Mammoth Meaning
/ˈmæməθ/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAny 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.
nounA mastodon.
Sentence Examples
The author's verbiage produced a document of mammoth size and microscopic import.
Trying to spot bodies in the middle of a vast ocean is a mammoth task.
A frozen mammoth has been found in Siberia.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The skeleton of a ____ with huge tusks was found in the permafrost.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The construction of the new bridge was a ____ task that required many years and a lot of specialized workers.
Word Origin & History
From obsolete Russian ма́мант (mámant), modern ма́монт (mámont), probably from a Uralic word, such as Proto-Mansi *mān-oŋt (“earth horn”). Possibly influenced by behemoth. Adjectival use was popularized in the early 1800s by references to the Cheshire Mammoth Cheese presented to American paleontologist and president Thomas Jefferson.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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 Russico-Anglicum, page 103:
"The Mammotovoy, which is dug out of the Earth in Siberia."
— 1698, Heinrich Wilhelm Ludolf, edited by Sir James Augustus Henry Murray, Sir William Alexander Craigie, and Charles Talbut Onions, A New English dictionary on historical principles: founded mainly on the materials collected by the Philological Society., volume 6, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1908, A. Brand's Emb. Muscovy into China, page 98:
"The old Siberian Russians affirm that the Mammuth is very like the Elephant."
— 1706, Evert Ysbrants Ides, “An Account of Elephants Teeth and Bones, found under Ground”, in The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, from Their Commencement in 1665 to the Year 1800., volume 7, London: C. and R. Baldwin, published 1809, Three Years Travels from Moscow Over-land to China: Thro' Great Ustiga, Siriania, Permia, Sibiria, Daour, Great Tartary, Etc. to Peking ; Containing an Exact and Particular Description of the Extent and Limits of Those Countries, and the Customs of the Barbarous Inhabitants; with Reference to Their Religion, Government, Marriages, Daily Imployments, Habits, Habitations, Diet Death, Funerals etc. to which is Annex'd an Accurat Description of China, Done Originally by a Chinese Author., page 243:
"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:
"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. Lippincott Company, published 1912, page 571:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The skeleton of a ____ with huge tusks was found in the permafrost.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The construction of the new bridge was a ____ task that required many years and a lot of specialized workers.