elephants' graveyard

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word elephants' graveyard. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word elephants' graveyard, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say elephants' graveyard in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word elephants' graveyard you have here. The definition of the word elephants' graveyard will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofelephants' graveyard, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Noun

elephants' graveyard (plural elephants' graveyards)

  1. A place where, according to legend, older elephants instinctively direct themselves when they reach a certain age, in order to die alone.
  2. (by extension) A place where lost objects or people end up, and from which there is no escape.
    • 1984, John F. Williams, Career Preparation and Opportunities in International Law, page 94:
      John F. Williams, Paul Clifford. low rate, on the other hand may mean that the legal department is an "elephants' graveyard," from which no escape is possible.
    • 1997, Carole Nelson Douglas, Cat with an Emerald Eye: A Midnight Louie Mystery, page 56:
      I actually wonder for a moment if my kind has an elephants' graveyard where those of us free to do so withdraw as our lives dwindle down to the ninth one's final moments.
    • 2012, Katerine Swift, The Morville Year:
      I suppose every garden has one: an elephants' graveyard of discarded labels.