orc

[ awrk ]

/ ɔrk /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR orc ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

any of several cetaceans, as a grampus.

a mythical monster, as an ogre.

Nearby words

Origin of orc

First recorded in 1510–20, orc is from the Latin word orca

Definition for orc (2 of 2)

O.R.C.

Officers' Reserve Corps.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for orc

But there will be a little bit of Orc killing to be seen in the extended cut.
‘No Regrets’: Peter Jackson Says Goodbye to Middle-Earth|Alex Suskind|December 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
There are a few Orc killings that we actually got knocked back.
‘No Regrets’: Peter Jackson Says Goodbye to Middle-Earth|Alex Suskind|December 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
One merely gathers, that Orc releases himself in order to marry the shadowy daughter of Urthona,—Ah!
William Blake|Irene Langridge
The battle with the Orc is borrowed from the tale of Perseus.
Renaissance in Italy: Italian Literature|John Addington Symonds

Orc is heard raging on Mount Atlas, where he is chained down with the chain of jealousy.
William Blake|Irene Langridge
But with the dawn of that morning Orc descended in fire, “and in the vineyards of red France appeared the light of his fury.”
William Blake|Algernon Charles Swinburne
The prelude is the lament of a nameless shadowy female, who rises from out the breast of Orc.
William Blake|Irene Langridge

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

Word Origin and History for orc

orc

"ogre, devouring monster," Old English orcþyrs, orcneas (plural), perhaps from a Romanic source akin to ogre, and ultimately from Latin Orcus "Hell," a word of unknown origin. Revived by J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) as the name of a brutal race in Middle Earth.

But Orcs and Trolls spoke as they would, without love of words or things; and their language was actually more degraded and filthy than I have shown it. ["Return of the King," 1955]