jumbo

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   unusually large in size

   They ordered a jumbo bucket of popcorn to share during the film.

Simplified etymology

In the early 19th century jumbo was applied to a large, clumsy person. The word became widely known as the name of a London Zoo elephant sold to the Barnum and Bailey circus in 1882. Jumbo had also been known since the 18th century as the name of an African spirit. Since 1964, the word has referred to a large jet airliner, particularly the Boeing 747.

Popularized by 'Jumbo', the name of a famously large elephant exhibited by P. T. Barnum in the 1880s; the name itself is of uncertain origin, perhaps from a West African word for 'elephant' or from 'mumbo-jumbo'.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary