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elk, n.1

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Pronunciation: 
Brit. Hear pronunciation/ɛlk/
, 
U.S. Hear pronunciation/ɛlk/
Forms:  Middle English–1600s elke, (1500s alke), 1500s elcke, 1600s– elk. See also alce n.(Show Less)
Frequency (in current use):  Show frequency band information
Etymology: Of obscure history: the existing word is not the normal phonetic representative of Old English elch  , elh   (eolh  ), and is probably < Middle High German elch   ( < Old High German elaho  ). The relation of the Old Norse elg-r   (Swedish elg  ) < type *algi-z   to the Old English and German words ( < types *elho-  , *elhon-  ) is uncertain. The English form alke   was influenced by Latin alces  , Greek ἄλκη   (compare alce n.), which appear only as the name of an animal living in northern Europe (apparently the elk), and are probably adopted < Germanic or some other northern language.
 1.
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 a. The largest existing animal of the deer kind ( Alces malchis), inhabiting large portions of Northern Europe and of North America. The American variety is also called the moose n.2   (In quot. 1541   the name seems to be applied to some English species of deer.)

[a700   Epinal Gloss. 233   Cer[v]us, elch.
a800   Corpus Gloss. 443   Cer[v]us, elh.
a800   Corpus Gloss. 2054   Tragelaphus, elch.
a900   Leiden Gloss.   Damma, elha.]
1486   Bk. St. Albans D iij b   The symplest of theis iij will slee an Hynde calfe, a Fawn, a Roo, an Elke.
1541   Act 33 Hen. VIII c. 6   It shall be lawfull..to have, exercise, and vse their handgounnes..so that it be at no maner of deere..or wild elke.
[1555   R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 275   Bisontes, which in theyr toonge [Swedish] they caule Elg, (that is) wilde asses.]
1577   W. Harrison Descr. Eng. (1877) iii. v. ii. 29   Plowing with vres..and alkes a thing commonlie vsed in the east countries.
1607   E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 211   The Elke on the contrary is most impatient of all heate.
1629   J. Smith True Trav. xv. 28   These Tartars possesse many..plaines, wherein feed Elkes, Bisones, Horses..and divers others.
a1674   J. Milton Brief Hist. Moscovia (1682) ii. 25   Those Messengers..made report of..People riding on Elks.
1774   O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth III. 140   It is..known in Europe under the name of the Elk, and in America by that of the Moose-deer.
1807   P. Gass Jrnl. 38   The men..killed two elk, four deer and one porcupine.
1836   W. Irving Astoria (1849) 196   They saw..frequent gangs of stately elks.
1837   W. Irving Capt. Bonneville (1895) II. 132   After a time they came in sight of a gang of elk.
1850   N. Kingsley Diary 109   Saw two elk among the tulas.
1853   C. Kingsley Hypatia II. vii. 182   Followed by..elks from beyond the Danube.
1890   H. P. Wells City Boys in Woods 108 (plate)    A group of elk.

1486—1890(Hide quotations)

 
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 b. plural. (With capital initial.) In full: the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, formed in New York City in 1868, originally a society of actors and writers, later a social and charitable organization; singular a member of this organization.

1879   Chicago Tribune 14 Mar. 5/4   The second annual benefit of Chicago Lodge, No. 4, ‘D.’, Protective Order of Elks, was given yesterday afternoon.
1922   L. Mumford in H. Stearns Civiliz. U.S. 6   In every American city, small or big, Odd Fellows,..Elks,..and other orders without number..found for themselves a prominent place.
1950   W. Stevens Let. 27 Feb. (1967) 670   The other hotels are full of Elks.
1957   W. H. Whyte Organization Man vii. xxi. 268   He can move upward (from the Elks, say, to the Rotary) only by sanction of the next upper group.

1879—1957(Hide quotations)

 
 2.
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 a. Applied to certain species of deer: e.g. to the ‘Irish Elk’, an extinct animal ( Cervus megaceros), which inhabited Ireland in prehistoric times; and to the Canadian Deer or Wapiti ( Cervus canadensis).

1884   M. Hickson Ireland in 17th Cent. I. Introd. 11   Celts and Saxons being as extinct in Ireland as the ancient elk.

1884—1884(Hide quotations)

 
 

 b. In Anglo-Indian use, the sambar n.1

1884   W. Rice Indian Game vi. 95   The deer in the foreground..are the samber stag, beautiful animals one sometimes hears miscalled the ‘elk’.
1890   S. W. Baker Wild Beasts xxv. 306   Sambur deer, (miscalled elk in Ceylon).

1884—1890(Hide quotations)

 
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 3. A species of antelope: the eland n.   or Cape-elk.

1731   G. Medley tr. P. Kolb Present State Cape Good-Hope II. 110   The haunts of the African Elks are generally on high mountains, on good pasture grounds, and near good springs.
1786   G. Forster tr. A. Sparrman Voy. Cape Good Hope (ed. 2) II. 264   The Cape elk, or more properly the elk-antilope, is a name given by the colonists to a species of gazel.

1731—1786(Hide quotations)

 

Compounds

 C1. General attributive.
 

  elk-skin   n.

1759   W. Harte Hist. Life Gustavus Adolphus II. 321   He wore..an elkskin buff-waistcoat.

1759—1759(Hide quotations)

 
 C2.
 

  elk-bark   n. Magnolia glauca.

 
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  elk-horn   n. (also elk's-horn) a kind of fern, Platycerium alcicorne.

1865   P. H. Gosse Land & Sea (1874) 330 (note)    The Elk-horn fern.
1882   J. Hardy in Proc. Brew. Nat. Club IX. 434   The Elk's-horn fern.

1865—1882(Hide quotations)

 
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  elk-horse   n. a horse employed in hunting the elk.

1888   Cent. Mag. Jan. 451/2   The ‘elk’ horses received three-quarters forage at night and a quarter forage in the morning.

1888—1888(Hide quotations)

 
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  elk-hound   n. a dog of Scandinavian origin specially adapted for hunting the elk, having a thick and weather-resisting coat of a grey colour with black tips, and a thick tail curled over the back.

[1834   C. F. Hoffman Let. 12 Feb. in Winter in West (1835) II. 12   A very successful experiment has been made here in crossing the greyhound and Newfoundland... If the race be continued, they ought to be dubbed elkhounds.]
1878   Kennel Club Stud Bk. 213   Norwegian Elbehound [sic].
1889   Kennel Gaz.   Swedish Elk Hound.
1895   Kennel Club Cal. (1896) XXIII. 436   Foreign Dogs... Norse (Elk-hound).
1907   R. Leighton New Bk. Dog xvi. 491   The Elk-hound..may be termed the Scandinavian Pointer, for, as well as for elk and bear-hunting, it is used as a gun-dog for blackcock.
1908   Kennel Encycl. II. 588   The true Elk or Bear hound is distinctly by nature a hunting dog, hailing originally from Swedish Lapland or Jemtland... The dogs are designated by their owners ‘Svenske Hunder’.
1945   C. L. B. Hubbard Observer's Bk. Dogs 62   In 1923..the British Elkhound Society was formed.

1878—1945(Hide quotations)

 
 

  elk-nut   n. Hamiltonia oleifera.

 
 

  elk-tree   n. Andromeda arborea.

 
 

  elk-wood n. Andromeda arborea and Magnolia macrophylla.

1807   F. Pursh Jrnl. Bot. Excursion (1923) 27   Acer montanum, very common throughout these woods, called Elkwood.
1814   F. Pursh Flora Amer. Septentrionalis I. 381   Elk-wood. Magnolia tripetala.
1834   Southern Literary Messenger 1 97   The underwood is mostly streaked maple or elkwood (the Acer Striatum of Michaux).
1880   Harper's Mag. July 182/2   Vines and elk-wood cover both sides (of the rock).

1807—1880(Hide quotations)

 
 

  elk-yard   n. a kind of habitation made by the elk.

1868   J. G. Wood Homes without Hands xxxi. 612   That curious temporary habitation..popularly termed an Elk-yard.

1868—1868(Hide quotations)

 

Draft additions December 2005

 

  elkhorn   n. (more fully elkhorn coral) a staghorn coral, Acropora palmata (family Acroporidae), found in shallow waters throughout the Caribbean.

1928   W. Beebe Rec. Diving among Reefs Haiti x. 138   Unlike Sand Cay, its sea-fans and gorgonias were subordinate to its corals—massive brain mounds as big as automobiles, and elkhorn forests twelve and fifteen feet high.
1950   Jrnl. Ecol. 38 360   The elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata..with strong flattened branches and reaching 10 ft. or more in height, is another important form.
1998   R. Stone Damascus Gate iii. lxxiv. 496   There were sea fans and elkhorn and sea pens, bright grouper audibly crunching the coral.
2002   Atlanta Jrnl. & Constit. (Nexis) 18 June 3 a   An epidemic of ‘white pox’ that has decimated the once-plentiful elkhorn coral in the Caribbean Sea has been traced to bacteria found in sewage.

1928—2002(Hide quotations)

 

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    This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; latest version published online March 2021).

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