noun
1. South African vine having a massive rootstock covered with deeply fissured bark
• Hypernyms: ↑vine
• Member Holonyms: ↑Dioscorea, ↑genus Dioscorea
• Part Meronyms: ↑Hottentot bread, ↑Hottentot's bread
2. any plant of the genus Elephantopus having heads of blue or purple flowers; America
• Hypernyms: ↑herb, ↑herbaceous plant
• Member Holonyms: ↑Elephantopus, ↑genus Elephantopus
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\\| ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷| ̷ ̷\ noun (plural elephant's-foots)1.
a. : a plant of the genus Elephantopus
b. : a southern African vine (Dioscorea elephantipes) having a massive rootstock covered with a deeply fissured bark — called also tortoise plant; see hottentot bread
2. : a ram with a foot for holding the work to the block in a flanging machine
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/el"euh feuhnts foot'/, n., pl. elephant's-foots.
a climbing vine, Dioscorea elephantipes, of southern Africa, having a massive, edible, yamlike tuber. Also called Hottentot's bread, tortoise plant.
[1810-20]
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elˈephant's-foot noun
1. A plant (Testudinaria elephantipes), whose root-stock resembles an elephant's foot, eaten by the Khoikhoi
2. A tropical composite plant, Elephantopus (from the shape of its radical leaves)
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Main Entry: ↑elephant
Useful english dictionary. 2012.