Wiktionary

walrus

English

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WOTD – 25 August 2010
 
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A walrus

Etymology

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Probably borrowed from Dutch walrus, a compound of wal (“whale”) and ros (“horse”). Displaced native Old English horshwæl (literally “horse-whale”). Compare similar constructions in Danish hvalros, Old Norse hrosshvalr, and German Walross.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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walrus (plural walruses or walrus or (uncommon) walrusses or (both nonstandard, proscribed, uncommon and often humorous) walri or walrii)

  2. A large Arctic marine mammal related to seals and having long tusks, tough, wrinkled skin, and four flippers, Odobenus rosmarus.
    • 1887, James W. Buel, Sea and Land, page 251:
      Of all the Phocine family none present so terrible and grotesque an appearance as the gigantic Walrus, also known as the morse and sea-horse.
  3. (informal, sometimes derogatory) A man with a walrus moustache.
    • 2008, James E. Martin, The Chartreuse Mongoose, page 145:
      You old walrus, don't you think it is time for you to lop your whiskers off?
    • 2013, Marione Ingram, The Hands of War:
      One, a rumpled, whiskered walrus of a man, held a lantern near Mother's face.

Quotations

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Synonyms

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Coordinate terms

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • → Punjabi:
    Gurmukhi script: ਵਾਲਰਸ (vālras)
    Shahmukhi script: والرس (vālras)
  • → Welsh: walrws

Translations

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See also

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Verb

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walrus (third-person singular simple present walruses or walrusses, present participle walrusing or walrussing, simple past and past participle walrused or walrussed)

  1. To hunt walruses
    • 2016, Andrey Kurkov, The President's Last Love, Kiev, 9 May 1985:
      It's strange to see parties of merrymakers gather where I nearly drowned, and later walrused with David Isaakovich, Father Basil and the rest of them.
  2. To be like a walrus
    1. To move dragging one's belly along the floor
      • 2020, Will Ferguson, The Finder: A Novel:
        Gaddy walrused herself from the back seat
    2. To hang like a walrus's moustache
      • 2000, Michael L. McCoy, The Hunter, the Hound and a Rogue:
        His untrimmed mustache walrused down and over his hidden mouth
    3. To be prominent, like tusks
      • 2011, Robert Buettner, Overkill:
        Where a mammal had its canine teeth, great fangs walrused down from the grezzen's upper jaw, as long as scimitars and as thick as human thighs.

Afrikaans

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Etymology

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From Dutch walrus, probably from Danish hvalros or Swedish valross, from an inversion of Old Norse hrosshvalr (“horse-whale”).

Noun

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walrus (plural walrusse)

  1. walrus (Odobenus rosmarus)

Cebuano

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Etymology

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From English walrus, from Danish hvalros, an inversion of Old Norse hrosshvalr (literally “horse-whale”). The term may have entered English via Dutch walrus.

Pronunciation

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  • Hyphenation: wal‧rus

Noun

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walrus

  1. a walrus (Odobenus rosmarus)

Dutch

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Etymology

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The origin of this word is not wholly certain, with several theories proposed. Probably borrowed from Danish hvalros or Swedish valross, from an inversion of Old Norse hrosshvalr (“horse-whale”). Equivalent to wal (“whale; large sea-animal”) +‎ ros (“horse”). The Old Norse word may, however, been a folk-etymological modification of Old Norse rossmal, related to Proto-Germanic *rusta-, from the rust colour of the animal.[1] Preference for borrowing the inverted form could have been due to the influence of the already existing Dutch compound walvis (“whale”, literally “whale-fish”).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈʋɑlrʏs/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: wal‧rus

Noun

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walrus m (plural walrussen, diminutive walrusje n)

  1. walrus, any member of the family Odobenidae of which Odobenus rosmarus is the sole extant member

Derived terms

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Descendants

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References

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  1. ^ Philippa, Marlies, Debrabandere, Frans, Quak, Arend, Schoonheim, Tanneke, van der Sijs, Nicoline (2003–2009) Etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands (in Dutch), Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press
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