Elephant, to see the: to see it all, to experience it all. To experience battle when pertaining to war.
- 1840: That's sufficient, as Tom Haynes said when he saw the elephant. A.B. Longstreet, Georgia Scenes, p.10
- 1851: I think I have seen the elephant, as far as public life is concerned. Mr. Hale, New Hampshire, U.S. Senate, Congressional Globe, January 22, p.304
- 1854: I am a miner, who wandered away from down-east, and came to sojourn in a strange land, and see the elephant. Knickerbocker Magazine, April
- 1873: He had lost all his money, consisting of seven twenty-dollar gold pieces, and a bundle containing a valuable steam gauge. He had seen the elephant (rather too close a view, he thought), was many hundred miles from home, among strangers, and without a dollar in his pocket. Edward Savage, Police Records and Recollections, p.121
Exfluncticate: to utterly destroy.
- 1839: The mongrel armies are prostrate - used up - exfluncticated. Chemung (New York) Democrat November 30
- 1840: ...the Administration is bodaciously used up, tetotaciously ex- flunctified. Mr. Wick, Indiana, House of Reps., Congressional Globe, July 20, p.545
Express: the mails, a mail stage.
- 1851: The religious papers which have the greatest circulation are pa- pers of a small size, and are transmitted mostly by express. Mr. Dunean, Massachwetts, House of Reps., Congressional Globe, January 15, p.245
- 1854: There are two large express companies, Adams & Co. and Wells, Fargo & Co., which carry mail matter by Nicaragua, charging from twenty-five to fifty cents on a letter. Mr. Lathan, California, Congressional Globe, April 7, p.872
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