# walrus
## English
### Etymology

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.

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈwɔːl.ɹəs/, /ˈwɒl.ɹəs/
* (US) IPA: /ˈwɑl.ɹəs/, /ˈwɔl.ɹəs/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio (General Australian):(file)

### Noun

walrus (plural walruses or walrus or (uncommon) walrusses or (both nonstandard, proscribed, uncommon and often humorous) walri or walrii)
* A large Arctic marine mammal related to seals and having long tusks, tough, wrinkled skin, and four flippers, Odobenus rosmarus.
** 1887, James W. Buel, Sea and Land, page 251: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.
* (informal, sometimes derogatory) A man with a walrus moustache.
** 2008, James E. Martin, The Chartreuse Mongoose, page 145:You old walrus, don't you think it is time for you to lop your whiskers off?
** 2013, Marione Ingram, The Hands of War:One, a rumpled, whiskered walrus of a man, held a lantern near Mother's face.

#### Quotations

* For more quotations using this term, see Citations:walrus.

#### Synonyms

* morse (obsolete)
* sea horse (rare)

#### Coordinate terms

* eared seal
* earless seal

#### Derived terms

* Ambien walrus
* she-walrus
* walruslike
* walrus moustache
* walrus mustache
* walrus operator

#### Descendants

* → Punjabi:
    Gurmukhi script: ਵਾਲਰਸ (vālras)
    Shahmukhi script: والرس (vālras)
* → Welsh: walrws

#### See also

* seal
* sea lion, sealion

### Verb

walrus (third-person singular simple present walruses or walrusses, present participle walrusing or walrussing, simple past and past participle walrused or walrussed)
* To hunt walruses
** 2016, Andrey Kurkov, The President's Last Love, Kiev, 9 May 1985: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.
* To be like a walrus
** To move dragging one's belly along the floor
*** 2020, Will Ferguson, The Finder: A Novel:Gaddy walrused herself from the back seat
** To hang like a walrus's moustache
*** 2000, Michael L. McCoy, The Hunter, the Hound and a Rogue:His untrimmed mustache walrused down and over his hidden mouth
** To be prominent, like tusks
*** 2011, Robert Buettner, Overkill:Where a mammal had its canine teeth, great fangs walrused down from the grezzen's upper jaw, as long as scimitars and as thick as human thighs.

## Afrikaans
### Etymology

From Dutch walrus, probably from Danish hvalros or Swedish valross, from an inversion of Old Norse hrosshvalr (“horse-whale”).

### Noun

walrus (plural walrusse)
* walrus (Odobenus rosmarus)

## Cebuano
### Etymology

From English walrus, from Danish hvalros, an inversion of Old Norse hrosshvalr (literally “horse-whale”). The term may have entered English via Dutch walrus.

### Pronunciation

* Hyphenation: wal‧rus

### Noun

walrus
* a walrus (Odobenus rosmarus)

## Dutch
### Etymology

The origin of this word is not wholly certain, with several theories proposed. Probably borrowed from Danish hvalros or Swedish valross, from an inversion of Old Norse hrosshvalr (“horse-whale”). Equivalent to wal (“whale; large sea-animal”) +‎ ros (“horse”). The Old Norse word may, however, been a folk-etymological modification of Old Norse rossmal, related to Proto-Germanic *rusta-, from the rust colour of the animal. Preference for borrowing the inverted form could have been due to the influence of the already existing Dutch compound walvis (“whale”, literally “whale-fish”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈʋɑlrʏs/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: wal‧rus

### Noun

walrus m (plural walrussen, diminutive walrusje n)
* walrus, any member of the family Odobenidae of which Odobenus rosmarus is the sole extant member

#### Derived terms

* walrussnor
* walrustand

#### Descendants

* Afrikaans: walrus

### References

* ↑ Philippa, Marlies, Debrabandere, Frans, Quak, Arend, Schoonheim, Tanneke, van der Sijs, Nicoline (2003–2009) Etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands (in Dutch), Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press