killer whale

Definition

A sea mammal related to dolphins and porpoises (Orcinus orca).

Etymology

Calque or mistranslation of Spanish asesina-ballenas (“whale killer”), referring to their tendency to hunt whales.

Example Sentences

• "Of this whale, little is known to the Nantucketer, and nothing at all to the professed naturalist. From what I have seen of him at a distance, I should say that he was about the bigness of a grampus. He is very savage - a sort of Feegee fish. He sometimes takes the great Folio whales by the lip and hangs there like a leech until the mighty brute is worried to death. The killer is never hunted. I have never heard what sort of oil he has. Exception might be taken to the name of this whale, on the grounds of its indistinctness. For we are all killers on land and on sea; Bonaparts and sharks included."
• "Once or twice, too, I saw the killer-whale (Orca gladiator), the little species so readily known by its prominent back-fin."
• "It is the killer whale, which follows these herds, makes its attack upon them, and doubtless kills a great many."