kraken

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“
Something about the phrase "Summon the kraken!" stokes my inner-adolescent, especially when a kraken is successfully summoned.

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Definitions (3)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun A huge sea monster in Norwegian legend.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (40)

  • Soufflé recognized it now: It was a kraken, one of the most fearsome sea monsters. —  Up In A Heaval
  • As she studied its outline she realized that it was a kraken, the deadly deep-sea weed that preyed on the unwary. —  Piers Anthony - [Xanth 29] - Pet Peeve (2005)
  • This was a land kraken, a variant of the tangle tree! —  A Spell for Chameleon
  • The vial produced a writhing vine from a kraken, which undulated aggressively toward Bink. —  The Source of Magic
  • The kraken, which was literally out of its depth here so close to the Conamara Chaos region and its open leads, flailed to keep up. —  Dan Simmons - Hockenberry 1 - Ilium
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This word has been looked up 75 times.

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Norwegian dialectal : krake, kraken + Norwegian -n, suffixed definite article.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Also sometimes kraaken; from Danish kraken, from Norwegian krake, a fabled sea-monster: little used in Norwegian, but apparently a particular use of krake, a pole, stake, post, a stunted crooked tree, a hook, also a stunted animal or person, = Icelandic kraki, a pale, stake, post, = Danish krage, a climbing-pole, = Swedish krake, a stunted horse; prob. ult. akin to English crook.
 

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/ˈkreɪkɛn/
by American Heritage

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