see the elephant

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see the elephant (third-person singular simple present sees the elephant, present participle seeing the elephant, simple past saw the elephant, past participle seen the elephant)

1. (US, obsolete, slang) To witness something unexpected and awe-inspiring. [early 19th c. to Civil War]
2. (US, obsolete, slang) To be up to the latest moves; to be knowing and worldly.
   • 1846, The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, page 338:

     "[W]hy he's a natural born carakter. He is the best hand at a yarn in all west country, and will whip more cats, tell more lies, and eat more pork, than any fellow in Texas. […] [H]e's rare, jist the chap, and no mistake. He's seen the elephant, I imagine, a little more nor twice, I expect."

3. (US, American Civil War, slang) To witness or participate in a battle.
4. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see see,‎ the,‎ elephant.

• John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary