800-pound gorilla
English
Etymology
a. 1971, from a riddle: "Where does an 800-pound gorilla sleep?" / "Anywhere it wants."
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Noun
800-pound gorilla (plural 800-pound gorillas)
Usage notes
- The weight in the metaphor can be varied quantitatively.
- Occasionally other nouns are substituted, most commonly elephant from another idiom, but also more context-specific nouns, such as rutabaga in an article on gardening.
- Occasionally adjectives are inserted to modify gorilla to bring the metaphor closer to the context.
Synonyms
Derived terms
- 800-pound gorilla in the room
References
- 800-pound gorilla at OneLook Dictionary Search
- Instances of variation by weight from Spy
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