Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An Arctic whale (Monodon monoceros) that has a spotted pelt and is characterized in the male by a long spirally twisted ivory tusk projecting from the left side of its head.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A cetacean, Monodon monoceros, of the family Delphinidræ and the subfamily Delphinapterinæ; the sea-unicorn, unicorn-whale, or unicorn-fish. One of the teeth of the male is enormously developed into a straight spirally fluted tusk from 6 to 10 feet long. This tusk is sometimes almost as long as the rest of the creature, and furnishes a valuable ivory. The narwhal also yields a superior quality of oil. It inhabits arctic seas. See also cut under
Monodon .
Wiktionary
- n. An Arctic cetacean, about 20 feet long; the male has a single twisted pointed canine tooth or tusk projecting forward like a horn.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. An arctic cetacean (Monodon monocerous), about twenty feet long. The male usually has one long, twisted, pointed canine tooth, or tusk, projecting forward from the upper jaw like a horn, whence it is called also
sea unicorn ,unicorn fish , andunicorn whale . Sometimes two horns are developed, side by side.
WordNet 3.0
- n. small Arctic whale the male having a long spiral ivory tusk
Etymologies
- Norwegian or Danish narhval, from Old Norse nāhvalr : nār, corpse (from its whitish color) + hvalr, whale.
Examples
“Sea, have huge teeth in their lower jaws, and in the upper only holes into which those teeth fit; others like the bottle-nose, only two teeth or so in the lower jaw; and others, like the narwhal, two straight tusks in the upper jaw, only one of which grows, and is what you call a narwhal's horn.”
“The word narwhal came from Norweigan and meant corpse whale.”
“At Upper Navik they do the same with the narwhal, which is thought more heat-making than the seal; while the bear, to use their own expression, is 'stronger travel than all.”
“The narwhal is a small species of whale, being about twenty feet long, and spotted something like an iron-gray horse.”
“③ Monodon monoceros: The narwhal is a medium-sized toothed whale that lives year-round in the Arctic.”
“Squid, along with octopus and bobtail squid (Rossia spp.), play an important role as prey in Arctic waters for species such as narwhal, beluga, seals, cod and Greenland halibut.”
“Horns from several different animals, including the narwhal, have been shown around the courts of Europe as proof of the existence of the animal that no one living ever seems have seen with their own eyes.”
“So for instance, I picked the “N” page on which Featherbottom visits the North Pole instead of the one where he goes to Naples or New Orleans because the North Pole is where Santa lives, and also, the illustration on the North Pole page showed an awesome narwhal with a giant cone on its head that I knew Austin would think was pretty boss.”
Three awesome things I’ve discovered that that you should absolutely check out | Johnny B. Truant
“Sheattie confirmed that the moment when a narwhal is preparing to dive—when it lunges out of the water one final time after several shorter arches—is not only the ideal moment to shoot a picture, but also for hunters to aim for its brain.”
“I got to try narwhal skin known as "muktuk", which tasted like cod but had the consistency of rubber tire.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘narwhal’.
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•Open List: What's On Your Work Desk?
Name one or more of the strangest things you've ever had on or around your desk. (Coworkers don't count.) Please explain on the word page for our continuing enjoyment. :-)
Inspired by ...preserved slice o..., coffee mug shaped..., 11th-century illu..., book from hitler'..., krazy ikes, magic 8 ball, queen of tech ser..., 3 ft.-long hangin..., pickled pig lips, stapler, tennis-ball sized..., 16-channel audio ... and 97 more...
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tHe Best Animals Ever
giraffe, elepant, cattle, water buffalo, langur monkey, baboon, lion, antelope, cheetah, tapeworm, kangaroo, bullfrog and 95 more...
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Whence
Definitions with a whence in them.
girasol, spider, Good King Whenceslas, Æ, whence, narwhal, lithophyse, henbane, gamboge, cirripedia, thermifugine, zietrisikite and 37 more...
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Chit Chat
Conversations that are shorter than those featured in my conversations list.
props, frass, narwhal, preggers, mu, hype, heterotopia, sans serif, cow orker, snicker-snack, modality road, boolean poetry and 77 more...
ruzuzu The word narwhal always reminds me of the Pablo Neruda poem "Los Enigmas" which is quoted (sort of... in English...) toward the end of the movie Mindwalk:
You question me about the wicked tusk of the narwhal,
and I respond by describing to you
how the sea unicorn with a harpoon in it dies.
(Here's a link from YouTube). May 15, 2010
ruzuzu Oh, right, it's narwhals that eat fairies. Got it. Dec 12, 2009
bilby blessing seems a bit wish-unicorns-were-real wistful while tusking came from someone's toddler at bedtime story. Nov 6, 2009
seanahan From googling, it appears that "pod" is the more common term for narwhals. As with all of the exhaltation of larks, these are highly subjective and people like us are constantly coming up with new ones. All it takes (especially with the internet) is for someone to come up with a good one and have the meme catch on. Nov 6, 2009
frogapplause Is this accurate?
According to this a group of narwhals is a group, a blessing, or a tusking. These groups are usually in between 5-10 narwhals.
Nov 6, 2009
chained_bear "Freebase the Magic Narwhal." Sep 3, 2008
rolig Glad you appreciated my little pun, rt. Aug 28, 2008
reesetee Rolig: Nar-do-whal is what I always think of when I hear this word! Haha! Aug 28, 2008
lyuds The narwhal revenge toys are great, I actually saw those at the store the other day... Aug 27, 2008
chained_bear Whallets? Really?! Aug 27, 2008
Prolagus By the way, I found those items on my coworker's desk today. Aug 27, 2008
rolig Sad about what happened to this poor creature's cousin, the nar-do-whal, in and out of prison, spawning little whals (whallets?) all over the ocean without providing any support… Eventually he developed a serious planktoning problem, but refused to get any help for it. Aug 27, 2008
chained_bear I'm having the freakiest deja vus lately. Didn't we have this very conversation somewhere, complete with links? I could have sworn it was on the narwhal page, but apparently not. *is freaked out, goes to check bacon* Aug 27, 2008
reesetee Archie! You have to love that site.
Well, you don't, really, but I do. :-) Aug 27, 2008
Prolagus OK, now have a look at this, and this, and this. Aug 27, 2008
lallafa Oh man they totally are whale-unicorns. Also they eat fairies. Did you know? Apr 21, 2007
moochaloocha ken loves narwhals. i think they are some sort of mutant whale-unicorn breed designed to take over the world. Jan 30, 2007