narwhal
UK /ˈnɑːʍəl/ · US /ˈnɑɹʍəl/ noun
Forms narwhals narwal narwhale
- noun An Arctic toothed whale (Monodon monoceros) that grows to about 20 feet (6 meters) long, the male having a single horn-like tusk, a twisted, pointed cuspid that projects forward.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Dutch narwal or Danish/Norwegian Bokmål narhval, from Old Norse náhvalr, from nár (“corpse”) + hvalr (“whale”). Compare Icelandic náhvalur.
Webster’s 1913
- noun 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, and unicorn whale.
- noun Was not. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Etymology [Sw. or Dan. narvhal; akin to Icel. nahvalr, and E. whale. the first syllable is perh. from Icel. nar corpse, dead body, in allusion to the whitish color its skin. See Whale.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “narwhal”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details