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  1. grampus love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A cetacean (Grampus griseus) related to and resembling the dolphins but lacking a beaklike snout.
  2. n. Any of various similar cetaceans, such as the killer whale.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A cetacean of the family Delphinidæ, subfamily Delphininæ, and genus Phocæna or Orca, etc.; some large dolphin-like or porpoise-like cetacean, of predatory and carnivorous habits.
  2. n. A cetacean of the family Delphinidæ and subfamily Globicephalinæ; a caaing- or pilot-whale; a blackfish or cowfish. In superficial characters it resembles the preceding, and grows to even larger size, but is timid and inoffensive. See cut under Globicephalus.
  3. n. [capitalized] [NL.] A genus of grampuses, containing such as G. griseus. They are related to the caaing-whales (Globicephalus), and not specially to the pre-daceous grampuses (Orca), have no teeth in the upper jaw and few in the lower, and 68 vertebræ). There are several species.
  4. n. The dobson or hellgrammite: more fully called water-grampus.
  5. n. A pursy, puffy fellow; an obese person.
  6. n. The whip-tailed scorpion, Thelyphonus giganteus. Also called mule-killer, nigger-killer, and in the West Indies vinaigrier, or vinegar-maker, from its acid secretion. LFlorida, U. S.]
  7. n. The tongs with which the blooms are handled in a bloomery.

Wiktionary

  1. n. The killer whale or orca
  2. n. A type of gray dolphin-like creature, Grampus griseus, with a blunt nose

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Zoöl.) A toothed delphinoid cetacean, of the genus Grampus, esp. G. griseus of Europe and America, which is valued for its oil. It grows to be fifteen to twenty feet long; its color is gray with white streaks. Called also cowfish. The California grampus is G. Stearnsii.
  2. n. U.S. A kind of tongs used in a bloomery.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. predatory black-and-white toothed whale with large dorsal fin; common in cold seas
  2. n. slaty-grey blunt-nosed dolphin common in northern seas

Etymologies

  1. Alteration (perhaps influenced by grand) of Middle English graspeis, from Old French craspois, graspeis, from Medieval Latin crassus piscis, craspiscis : Latin crassus, fat + Latin piscis, fish. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “Jan held on and breathed through his nose, snorting like a grampus.”

    JAN, THE UNREPENTANT

  • “She had got the start, and kept it, but at the expense, for the time, of her power of utterance; for when she came in presence of the Doctor, she stood blowing like a grampus, her loose toy flying back from her face, making the most violent effort to speak, but without the power of uttering a single intelligible word.”

    The Surgeon's Daughter

  • “It shares with the southern parks abundant marine life: Kamchatka crab Paralithodes camtschatica, sea otter (900 animals), sea lion Eumetopias jubatus (EN, 800 breeding animals), Kuril seal Phoca vitulina stejnegeri (500), spotted P. largha and ringed seals P. hispida ochotensis, Risso's dolphin grampus griseus, narwhal Monodon monoceros and walrus Odobenus rosmarus divergens.”

    Volcanoes of Kamchatka, Russian Federation

  • “Here they waited some little time while the marriage party enrolled themselves; and meanwhile the wheezy little pew – opener — partly in consequence of her infirmity, and partly that the marriage party might not forget her — went about the building coughing like a grampus.”

    Dombey and Son

  • “The Governor will blow like an old grampus, I know he will, — well, we must stop till he gets his wind again.”

    The History of Pendennis

  • “The grampus, or sea-wolf, was another article of food which bears testimony to the coarse palate of the early Englishman, and at the same time may afford a clue to the partiality for disguising condiments and spices.”

    Old Cookery Books and Ancient Cuisine

  • “He was in poor condition and puffed like a grampus, and he seemed to have no sort of head for heights.”

    Greenmantle

  • “However, the fact remained that the mention of her name conjured up assorted visions-starting with Jamie kissing her ardently in an alcove at Castle Leoch, and ending with him fumbling up her nightgown in the darkness of their marriage bed, hands warm and eager on her thighs-that made me snort like a grampus and feel the blood throb hotly in my temples.”

    A Breath of Snow and Ashes

  • “Brianna was incandescent, and breathing like a grampus.”

    A Breath of Snow and Ashes

  • “He breathed like a grampus for a bit, though, and finally, his complexion began to fade back to something like normal.”

    A Breath of Snow and Ashes

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hypernyms (1)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. dolphin

same context (23)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. minke
  2. crown-piece
  3. beluga
  4. deep-diving
  1. derisory
  2. airborne
  3. man-killing
  4. bottle-nosed
  1. infallibly
  2. half-strangled
  3. toothed
  4. preadamite
  1. fur seal
  2. fifty-ton
  3. 100-ton
  4. couth
  1. broad-nosed
  2. humpback
  3. ork
  4. forest-dweller
  1. Terran
  2. carrera
  3. buttonwood

reverse dictionary (14)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. grampus
  2. water-grampus
  1. nigger-killer
  2. orc
  1. cowfish
  2. vinaigrier
  1. bottlehead
  2. mule-killer
  1. ardluke
  2. genus grampus
  1. springer
  2. melon
  1. tilefish
  2. whip scorpion

tags (4)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. animal
  1. sloop
  1. british ship
  1. cetacean

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Lists

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Comments

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  • chained_bear Yes, a horde causing a rumpus, I think. Mar 4, 2008

  • reesetee Doesn't it sound like he's referring to a horde of old guys with grandchildren?
    ;-) Mar 4, 2008

  • chained_bear "Twice that afternoon Stephen was called on deck, once to see a troop of grampuses, and once to be shown a startling change in the sea..."
    --Patrick O'Brian, The Thirteen Gun Salute, 143 Mar 4, 2008

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‘grampus’ has been looked up 1814 times, loved by 1 person, added to 14 lists, commented on 3 times, and has a Scrabble score of 12.