A large marine mammal, especially a type of whale or dolphin, particularly the killer whale (orca); also used to describe a person of grumpy disposition.
From Middle French 'grapois' or 'grand poisson' (large fish), ultimately from Latin 'grandis' (large) and 'piscis' (fish); the etymology reflects how European merchants named unfamiliar sea creatures.
The grampus appears in Shakespeare and old maritime literature as a fearsome sea creature—medieval sailors genuinely did not know if orcas were fish or whales, and named them based purely on size and aggression.
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