Answers:
It means something that's too much trouble to keep, or too expensive, good for nothing or not wanted. The origin is explained at the links below.
The story is that the King of Thailand used to give people a white (albino) elephant if he wanted to ruin them, because they didn't dare get rid of a present from the king, but a white elephant was very expensive to keep.
It's when you draw numbers and win a gag gift.
It's a gift that's given to you that ends up costing you a lot of money.
I believe it means something with no re-sale value! Kinda means you are stuck with it! lol
it's giving somebody something that they dont want, or something that will prove to be troublesome.
IIRC, the phrase comes from india. a person of high rank in india would give someone a white elephant. the receiver had to then take care of the elephant , at great expense and for many years. to refuse the white elephant or to get rid of it would be an insult to the giver.
EDIT: Seems yahoohoo beat me to it. It also seems it's from Thailand, not India as I stated.
It's an item that you cannot, no matter how hard you seem to try, get rid of.
The phrase comes from, I believe, India. The ruler would, if offended, give you a "white" elephant. Since it was an elephant it would eat... lots. If you were a peasant this would probably be the worst thing that could happen to you. Even if you had money it's not a good situation.
You also can't give the elephant away, again because it was a gift and you don't want to insult the emperor, and you certainly can't kill it or you'd likely be punished for such an insult.
If someone tells you that an object or property is a "white elephant" it means that it has no intrinsic value. It may be of little or no value to its owner, but it could be valued by someone else. Such as one mans trash is another mans treasure.
Costly asset impossible to maintain.
Edsel !
unnecessary burden
'a foreign wife is a white elephant for an indian'
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