walrus

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A large Arctic marine mammal related to seals and having long tusks, tough, wrinkled skin, and four flippers, Odobenus rosmarus.

   Of all the Phocine family none present so terrible and grotesque an appearance as the gigantic Walrus, also known as the morse and sea-horse.

2. 2
   noun

   A man with a walrus moustache.

   You old walrus, don't you think it is time for you to lop your whiskers off?

3. 3
   verb

   To hunt walruses

   It's strange to see parties of merrymakers gather where I nearly drowned, and later walrused with David Isaakovich, Father Basil and the rest of them.

4. 4
   verb

   To be like a walrus

   Gaddy walrused herself from the back seat.

Probably borrowed from Dutch walrus, a compound of wal (“whale”) and ros (“horse”). Displaced native Old English horshwæl (literally “horse-whale”). Compare similar constructions in Danish hvalros, Old Norse hrosshvalr, and German Walross.

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