Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A black-and-white toothed whale (Orcinus orca) that feeds on large fish, squid, and marine mammals such as seals and other whales and dolphins.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In ornithology, that part of the tracheal tympanum of a bird which is formed by the more or less coössified rings of the bronchi. See tympanum.
  • noun In mammalogy, a genus of marine delphinoid odontocete cetaceans, containing the numerous species known as killers, sword-fish, or grampuses.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • proper noun The killer whale (Orcinus orca).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A sea mammal (scientific name: Orcinus orca) related to dolphins and porpoises, commonly called the killer whale.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun predatory black-and-white toothed whale with large dorsal fin; common in cold seas

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin ōrca, whale, probably alteration (probably influenced by ōrca, vessel) of Greek orux, orug-, pickax, a kind of large fish or whale, perhaps from orussein, to dig.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin orca ("whale").

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Examples

  • But animals do what animals do, and this orca is a wild animal.

    Think Progress » American Family Association Pins SeaWorld Death On Lack Of Christianity: ‘Bible Ignored, Trainer Died’ 2010

  • And that means loss of campaign donations, duh! oh wait, never mind, the orca is the essence of seattle. actually, chijully is the essence of seattle put him on the orca, standing at a microphone to give public input, because that's the essence of seattle. everything should express the essence of seattle and our values. coming next: rebranding city light as city light as city orcachihulysalmonmetronaturalsaywa -- that's our essence!

    Fully Prepared and Totally Ready « PubliCola 2010

  • Transient must everything be called orca? if you were a tourist or infrequent user and saw an orca card it wouldn't say "transit" to you. if you see a sign that says get your orca card here, it wouldn't mean transit to you. the little graphic of the orca is nice, it doesn't have jack all to do with transit.

    Fully Prepared and Totally Ready « PubliCola 2010

  • The killer whale, Orcinus orca, is the only species formally accepted at this time.

    Archive 2007-03-01 2007

  • Negative connotations arose from the fact the orca is a tremendously vicious animal.

    The Horde is Evil 2005

  • The ruling dashes the hopes of conservationists who wanted to reintroduce the animal - also known as an orca - into the wild in its native waters off the coast of Norway.

    SFGate: Don Asmussen: Bad Reporter By TOBY STERLING 2011

  • A former contractor with SeaWorld told the Sentinel that the 30-year-old, 12,300-pound male orca, which is also called Tillikum, is typically kept isolated from other orcas and that trainers were not allowed to get in the water with him because of his violent history.

    News for NBC13.com NBC13.com 2010

  • Åka is not so easy for non-scandinavians its pronounced almost like "orca".

    Conventional Wokka x00c5;ka 2007

  • Åka is not so easy for non-scandinavians its pronounced almost like "orca".

    Archive 2007-06-01 x00c5;ka 2007

  • That’s good news for the little orca, which is being called J42 according to birth order.

    the jPod expansion pack has arrived! « raincoaster 2007

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