A white elephant is an idiom for a valuable but burdensome possession of which its owner cannot dispose and whose cost (particularly cost of upkeep) is out of proportion to its usefulness or worth. The term derives from the story that the kings of Siam (now Thailand) were accustomed to make a present of one of these animals to courtiers who had rendered themselves obnoxious, in order to ruin the recipient by the cost of its maintenance. In modern usage, it is an object, scheme, business venture, facility, etc., considered to be without use or value.
White elephants do exist in nature, as it is possible for an albino elephant to be white, as well as pink.
Read more about White Elephant: Background, Examples of Alleged White Elephant Projects
Famous quotes containing the words white and/or elephant:
“At middle night great cats with silver claws,
Bodies of shadow and blind eyes like pearls,
Came up out of the hole, and red-eared hounds
With long white bodies came out of the air
Suddenly, and ran at them and harried them.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Love will draw an elephant through a key-hole.”
—Samuel Richardson (1689–1761)