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orc

[ awrk ]
/ ɔrk /
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noun
any of several cetaceans, as a grampus.
a mythical monster, as an ogre.
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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

Other definitions 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. 2023

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
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