mammoth: [18] Mammoth is a Russian contribution to English. The word was borrowed from early modern Russian mammot, an adaptation of Tatar mamont ‘earth’ (the reason for the animal being so named is that the first remains of mammoths to be found were dug out of the frozen soil of Siberia). The adjectival use of the word for ‘huge’ dates from the early 19th century (‘The dancing very bad; the performers all had mammoth legs’, private diary of Sir Robert Wilson, 1814).
mammoth (n.)
1706, from Russian mammot', probably from Ostyak, a Finno-Ugric language of northern Russia (compare Finnish maa "earth"). Because the remains were dug from the earth, the animal was believed to root like a mole. As an adjective, "gigantic," from 1802; in this sense "the word appears to be originally American" [Thornton, "American Glossary"], and its first uses are in derogatory accounts to the cheese wheel, more than 4 feet in diameter, sent to President Jefferson by the ladies of the Baptist congregation in Cheshire, Mass., as a present, engraved with the motto "Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God." Federalist editors mocked the affair, and called up the word mammoth (known from Peale's exhibition) to characterize it.
双语例句
1. This mammoth undertaking was completed in 18 months.
这项艰巨的任务在18个月内完成了。
来自柯林斯例句
2. a financial crisis of mammoth proportions
极其严重的金融危机
来自《权威词典》
3. They made a gigantic [ huge ; mammoth ] demonstration against the government.
他们举行了一次 声势浩大 的反政府示威.
来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
4. The problem is beginning to assume mammoth proportions.
这个问题开始显得十分重大.
来自《简明英汉词典》
5. You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.