Dictionary.com

orc

[ awrk ]
/ ɔrk /
See synonyms for orc on Thesaurus.com

noun

any of several cetaceans, as a grampus.
a mythical monster, as an ogre.

QUIZZES

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In our third teacher-created PSAT practice test there are new and unique vocabulary terms you may have never heard of! Can you guess what they mean?
Question 1 of 10
seclusion
a false belief or opinion.
the matter that settles to the bottom of a liquid.
the state of being isolated, kept apart, or withdrawn into solitude.
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Origin of orc

First recorded in 1520–30; partly from Middle French orque, a kind of whale, partly from Italian orca “large whale, fabulous sea monster,” partly from Latin orca, a kind of whale; see origin at orca; see also Orcus, ogre

Definition for orc (2 of 2)

O.R.C.

abbreviation

Officers' Reserve Corps.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

Words related to orc

mammal, porpoise, whopper, cetacean, grampus, baleen, finback, beluga, rorqual, narwhal, orca, ceta, cete, sei

British Dictionary definitions for orc

orc
/ (ɔːk) /

noun

any of various whales, such as the killer and grampus
one of an imaginary race of evil goblins, esp in the fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien

Word Origin for orc

C16: via Latin orca, perhaps from Greek orux whale
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012