killer whale en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
Etymology
Calque or mistranslation of Spanish asesina-ballenas (“whale killer”), referring to their tendency to hunt whales. Equivalent to killer + whale.
Meanings
-
A sea mammal related to dolphins and porpoises (Orcinus orca).
It is the killer whale, which follows these herds, makes its attack upon them, and doubtless kills a great many.
1895, Proceedings, Volume 12, page 190:Of this whale, little is known to the Nantucketer, and nothing at all to the professed naturalist. From what I have seen of him at a distance, I should say that he was about the bigness of a grampus. He is very savage - a sort of Feegee fish. He sometimes takes the great Folio whales by the lip and hangs there like a leech until the mighty brute is worried to death. The killer is never hunted. I have never heard what sort of oil he has. Exception might be taken to the name of this whale, on the grounds of its indistinctness. For we are all killers on land and on sea; Bonaparts and sharks included.
1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:They display two totems, the Bear and the Killer-Whale (Orca ater) belonging to the Haida-Tsimshian group of tribes, whether Haidas of Queen Charlotte Islands or Tsimshians of the Mainland.
1899, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Journal - Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 28, page 134:Once or twice, too, I saw the killer-whale (Orca gladiator), the little species so readily known by its prominent back-fin.
1893, Fridtjof Nansen, The First Crossing of Greenland, Longmans, Green, and Company, page 89:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| killer whales | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
pygmy killer whale · false killer whale
Synonyms
orc · blackfish · grampus · killer · orca
Translations (91)
tr katil balina (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · fi miekkavalas (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · kl aarluk (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · de Butzkopf (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · ko 범고래 (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · no spekkhugger (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · he לוויתן קטלן (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · ik aaġlu (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · nl zwaardwalvis (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · ar حُوت قَاتِل (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · gd cana (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · hu kardszárnyú delfin (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · fo æðuhvalur (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · sei tacj queemtax (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · mi kākahi (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · de Killerwal (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · lut qal'qaləχʷič (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · ru каса́тка (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · gl candorca (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · bo སྟག་ཆུ་སྲིན (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · pt orca (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · cmn 逆戟鯨 /逆戟鲸 (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · nn staurkval (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · da spækhugger (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · nn spekkhoggar (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · ast esperlón (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · da dræberhval (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · hu orka (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · th วาฬเพชฌฆาต (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · tli kéet (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · lt Orka (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · mi maki (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · eo orcino (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · ale aglux̂ (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · bg косатка (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · cmn 殺人鯨 /杀人鲸 (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · no vagnhval (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · ru коса́тка (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · mr ऑर्का (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · eo orko (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · ru кит-уби́йца (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · non vögn (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · tr orka (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · ems arlluk (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · non vagna (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · de Schwertwal (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · nap ncroja (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · ain カムイフㇺベ (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · yue 殺人鯨 /杀人鲸 (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · sv späckhuggare (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · vi cá voi sát thủ (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · id paus pembunuh (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · pt baleia-assassina (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · gd mada-chuain (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · io orko (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · mr हिंसक देवमासा (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · el όρκα (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · haw ʻālaluka (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · ast orca (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · de Speckhauer (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · pl orka (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · nn vagn (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · sh kit ubojica (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · sh orka (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · is vagnhvalr (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · se fahkon (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · hu gyilkos bálna (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · ta திமிஙகளம் (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · fa نهنگ قاتل (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · cmn 虎鯨 /虎鲸 (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · ja 鯱 (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · nl orka (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · tfn ahlut (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · no staurhval (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · tl orka (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · gl alcandorca (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · it orca (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · sjd воа̄кань (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · chr ᏗᏓᎯᎯ ᏓᏆ (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · et mõõkvaal (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · ca orca (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · fr épaulard (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · kk косатка (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · esu arlluk (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · de Mörderwal (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · ja さかまた (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · fr orque (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · no spekkhogger (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · cs kosatka (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · fo bóghvítuhvalur (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'') · is háhyrningur (a sea mammal, ''Orcinus orca'')