elephant gun

elephant gun (plural elephant guns)

1. A large-calibre firearm capable of killing an elephant or other big game.
   • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     Lord John was standing at gaze with his finger on the trigger of his elephant-gun, his eager hunter's soul shining from his fierce eyes.

   • 1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 151:

     In St. James's Street there used to be several shops which would sell you any form of lethalness, from a rook-rifle to an elephant-gun, with the greatest urbanity.

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