the.com/jumbo
a circus elephant so famous his name became the size of everything big.
means Very large, oversized, or bigger than the usual version of something.
from This one really does come from an elephant. Jumbo was a huge African elephant at the London Zoo, later sold to P.T. Barnum's circus in the 1880s, where he was billed as the largest elephant in captivity and drew enormous crowds. His name turned into a byword for hugeness. Where the elephant's name itself came from is less certain — it may echo a West African word (possibly 'jumbe' or 'nzamba,' said to mean elephant or chief), but that link is unproven, and the name might equally have been a keeper's invention.
- real elephant
- P.T. Barnum's giant star of the 1880s circus
- name origin
- likely from Swahili jambo, meaning hello
- tragic end
- killed by a freight train in 1885
- linguistic legacy
- now means oversized fries, jets, and shrimp
- shrimp paradox
- jumbo shrimp is famous as an oxymoron
jumbo the elephant — african elephant exhibited by p.t. barnum in the 1880s, weighed 6.5 tons and became the most famous circus animal in history
airbus a380 — world's largest passenger airliner, first flight 2007, carries up to 853 passengers
jumbo jet — boeing 747, first wide-body jet introduced 1969, revolutionized long-haul air travel