elephant walk

English

Etymology

From elephant +‎ walk. Coined in the United States Air Force during World War 2, in reference to the appearance of large numbers of taxiing heavy bombers.

Noun

elephant walk (plural elephant walks)

  1. (US, military aviation) The taxiing of multiple aircraft in close formation before a mass take-off.
  2. (slang) A men's hazing ritual in which the men walk with each one holding the penis of the man behind him and with his thumb in the anus of the man in front of him.
    • 2012, Lynn M. Jamieson, Thomas Orr, Sport and Violence, page 51:
      […] which the players moved in a line while gripping the genitalia of those in front of them similar to an "elephant walk".
    • 2022, Jana Mathews, The Benefits of Friends, page 60:
      […] members at Sacramento State University simulating the elephant walk (a ritual that involves men forming a line and walking as a group while grasping the penis of the man in front of them).
  3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see elephant,‎ walk.
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