“TO SEE THE ELEPHANT”: MEANINGS OF THE PROVERBIAL PHRASE, AND ITS AGE
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Abstract
Lexicographers and paremiologists have been struggling with the American proverbial phrase “to see the elephant” since the 1840s, attempting to establish its history and elucidate its meanings. Often those attempts have resulted in erroneous information and fanciful conclusions. At least two instances of the expression can be identified from early-modern England.
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