orc
noun
any of several cetaceans, as a grampus.
orc
1 American
[awrk]
/ ɔrk /
noun
-
orcs
plural
-
any of several cetaceans, as a grampus.
-
a mythical monster, as an ogre.
O.R.C.
2
American
abbreviation
orc
British
/ 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
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
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 ( def. ); see also Orcus ( def. ), ogre
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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:
For a while I thought they were heralding an orc attack; now it turns out they may just be grieving.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 27, 2024
We were in the city of Waterdeep, overrun by an orc horde.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 24, 2024
The game hinges on cooperation and imagination — on the joy of friends inventing a creative way to trap an orc — and how in Hextor does that translate to sitting passively before a screen?
From New York Times ● Mar. 30, 2023
I'm using pots and pans on orcs, and Elijah's got the mithril vest to stave off the orc, or the whatever, the cave troll stabs him with the spear.
From Salon ● Jan. 24, 2022
Auggie used to say they smelled like orc vomit, which I always thought was funny.
From "Auggie & Me" by R. J. Palacio
O.R.C., who is a well-known contributor to the American Rifleman and the Infantry Journal and Antiques and the old Gun Report.
From Murder in the Gunroom by H. Beam Piper
Near Harrismith, O.R.C., in 1903, two herd boys with a troop of about a hundred goats and calves were caught by the hail.
From Jock of the Bushveld by Sir Percy Fitzpatrick
In this particular show, he steered the queens and audience through a world full of flying arrows and orcs looking to turn the heroes into a kind of fleshy cold brew.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 24, 2024
He finds one of the orcs responsible: a buddy of Rimuru’s.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 19, 2023
And leaving the orcs to fight among themselves wouldn’t be the worst thing.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 1, 2022
Part of the work of the orcs is razing trees, destroying nature in the service of the evil industry which chugs along like a locomotive.
From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2022
He crept on; and as he went he wondered how many orcs lived in the Tower with Shagrat, and how many Gorbag had, and what they were quarrelling about, if that was what was happening.
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
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.
