walrus

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.

noun

1. 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. 1887, James W. Buel, Sea and Land, page 251
2. (informal, sometimes derogatory) A man with a walrus moustache.
   You old walrus, don't you think it is time for you to lop your whiskers off? 2008, James E. Martin, The Chartreuse Mongoose, page 145
   One, a rumpled, whiskered walrus of a man, held a lantern near Mother's face. 2013, Marione Ingram, The Hands of War

verb

1. 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. 2016, Andrey Kurkov, The President's Last Love, Kiev, 9 May 1985
2. To be like a walrus
   1. To move dragging one's belly along the floor
      Gaddy walrused herself from the back seat 2020, Will Ferguson, The Finder: A Novel
   2. To hang like a walrus's moustache
      His untrimmed mustache walrused down and over his hidden mouth 2000, Michael L. McCoy, The Hunter, the Hound and a Rogue
   3. To be prominent, like tusks
      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. 2011, Robert Buettner, Overkill