grampus
Americannoun
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grampuses
plural
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a cetacean, Grampus griseus, of the dolphin family, widely distributed in northern seas.
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any of various related cetaceans, as the killer whale, Orcinus (Orca ) orca.
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a giant whip scorpion common to Florida.
noun
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a widely distributed slaty-grey dolphin, Grampus griseus, with a blunt snout
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another name for killer whale
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of grampus
1520–30; earlier grampoys, variant (by assimilation) of graundepose great fish, equivalent to graunde grand + pose, poys < Middle French pois, peis < Latin pisce- (stem of piscis ) fish; replacing Middle English gra ( s ) peis < Middle French ≪ Latin crassus piscis fat fish
Vocabulary lists containing grampus
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He continues: “Water dog, grampus, grumpus, mollyhugger, horny head, devil dog.”
From Washington Times ● Dec. 2, 2018
It h a menacing or amorous puff, similar to the grampus.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
Just what they wanted help for now that the grampus was gone, was a question quite beside the situation.
From The Corner House Girls on Palm Island by Gooch, Thelma
Huxley classes among cetacea the dolphins, porpoises, grampus and narwhal.
From Friction, Lubrication and the Lubricants in Horology by Lewis, William T.
The governor will blow like an old grampus, I know he will—well, we must stop till he gets his wind again.
From A History of Pendennis, Volume 1 His fortunes and misfortunes, his friends and his greatest enemy by Thackeray, William Makepeace
Panting like grampuses, mopping their red faces, Sir Colin & posse then went back to their pews.
From Time Magazine Archive
And it is sure that if God wills, the grampuses will eat him.
From The Children of the King by Crawford, F. Marion (Francis Marion)
The second side-course—miocene—was out of course, flesh after fowl: marine mammalia,—seals, grampuses, and whales, served up with sea- weed on their flanks, hearts and kidneys deviled, and fins and flippers friccasied.
From Mardi: and A Voyage Thither, Vol. II by Melville, Herman
The last syllable was no sooner out of my mouth, than tea, coffee, and chocolate was out of theirs, all spirting different ways, just like so many young grampuses.
From Frank Mildmay Or, The Naval Officer by Marryat, Frederick
Several grampuses were seen at the anchorage, also many dugongs and turtles.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
