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white elephant
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Tweet n. 1. A rare whitish or light-gray form of the Asian elephant, often considered sacred in parts of South and Southeast Asia. 2. A possession that provides few benefits and is an inconvenience or a financial burden to maintain. [Sense 2, in reference to a story that when the kings of Siam wished to ruin an offending courtier, they would give him a white elephant, which the courtier then had to maintain at great expense.] |
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