- (a) white elephant
- something that has cost a lot of money but has no useful purpose.
The town's new leisure centre, recently completed at a cost of ten million pounds, seems likely to prove a white elephant.
New idioms dictionary. 2014.
(a) white elephant
Look at other dictionaries:
White elephant — White White (hw[imac]t), a. [Compar. {Whiter} (hw[imac]t [ e]r); superl. {Whitest}.] [OE. whit, AS. hw[imac]t; akin to OFries. and OS. hw[=i]t, D. wit, G. weiss, OHG. w[=i]z, hw[=i]z, Icel. hv[=i]tr, Sw. hvit, Dan. hvid, Goth. hweits, Lith.… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
white elephant — ˌwhite ˈelephant noun [countable] something that is completely useless, even though it cost a lot of money: • The hotel is unfinished and structurally unsound a white elephant of epic proportions. * * * white elephant UK US noun [C] ► something… … Financial and business terms
White Elephant Village — (Nantucket,США) Категория отеля: 4 звездочный отель Адрес: 9 South Beach Street, Nantuc … Каталог отелей
White Elephant Hotel — (Nantucket,США) Категория отеля: 5 звездочный отель Адрес: 50 Easton Street., Nantuck … Каталог отелей
White Elephant Safari Lodge — (Dokolwani,Южно Африканская Республика) Категория отеля: 5 звездочный отель Адрес … Каталог отелей
White Elephant Sea Lodge — (Малинди,Кения) Категория отеля: Адрес: Casuarina Road, 80200 Малинди, Кен … Каталог отелей
white elephant — {n. phr.} Unwanted property, such as real estate, that is hard to sell. * /That big house of theirs on the corner sure is a white elephant./ … Dictionary of American idioms
white elephant — {n. phr.} Unwanted property, such as real estate, that is hard to sell. * /That big house of theirs on the corner sure is a white elephant./ … Dictionary of American idioms
white elephant — n [Date: 1800 1900; Origin: From the supposed practice of the King of Siam, who gave to people he did not like a white elephant, which cost a very large amount of money to keep] something that is completely useless, although it may have cost a… … Dictionary of contemporary English
white elephant — white elephants N COUNT (disapproval) If you describe something as a white elephant, you mean that it is a waste of money because it is completely useless. The pavilion has become a ₤14 million steel and glass white elephant … English dictionary
White elephant — Something requiring much care and expense to maintain and yielding little profit, and often difficult to sell; any burdensome possession. [Slang] [Webster 1913 Suppl.] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
