killer whale

Definitions

A sea mammal related to dolphins and porpoises (Orcinus orca).

Equivalents

Examples

“Of this whale, little is known to the Nantucketer, and nothing at all to the professed naturalist. From what I have⟳ seen of him at a distance, I should say⟳ that he was about the bigness of a grampus. He is very savage - a sort⟳ of Feegee fish⟳. He sometimes takes the great Folio whales by the lip and hangs there like⟳ a leech until the mighty brute is worried to death. The killer is never hunted. I have⟳ never heard what sort⟳ of oil he has. Exception might be taken to the name⟳ of this whale, on the grounds of its indistinctness. For we are all killers on land⟳ and on sea; Bonaparts and sharks included.”

“Once or twice, too, I saw⟳ the killer-whale (Orca gladiator), the little species so readily known by its prominent back-fin.”

“It is the killer whale, which follows these herds, makes its attack upon them, and doubtless kills a great many.”

“They display two totems, the Bear⟳ and the Killer-Whale (Orca ater) belonging to the Haida-Tsimshian group of tribes, whether Haidas of Queen Charlotte Islands or Tsimshians of the Mainland.”

CEFR level