eat an elephant one bite at a time
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Tackle a large task by breaking it into smaller, manageable parts
Literally: consuming an elephant one mouthful at a time
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
To finish this project, we'll eat an elephant one bite at a time
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “eat an elephant one bite at a time” mean?
Tackle a large task by breaking it into smaller, manageable parts Literally: consuming an elephant one mouthful at a time
Is “eat an elephant one bite at a time” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.