Definition of Kraken

1. n. A fabulous Scandinavian sea monster, often represented as resembling an island, but sometimes as resembling an immense octopus.

Definition of Kraken

1. Proper noun. (context: Scandinavian mythology) A colossal sea monster that attacks ships and sailors, often portrayed as an octopus or squid. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Kraken

1. a legendary sea monster [n -S]

Medical Definition of Kraken

1. A fabulous Scandinavian sea monster, often represented as resembling an island, but sometimes as resembling an immense octopus. "To believe all that has been said of the sea serpent or kraken, would be credulity; to reject the possibility of their existence, would be presumption." (Goldsmith) "Like a kraken huge and black." (Longfellow) Origin: Prob. From OSw. Krake, or ODan. Krage the trunk of a tree, the branches of which are not entirely cut off, to which it was likened by the Norwegian mariners. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Kraken

kraalhead
kraalheads
kraaling
kraals
krab
krabs
kraft
kraft paper
kraft pulp
krafts
krai
krais
kraisslite
krait
kraits
kraken (current term)
krakens
krakowiak
krakowiaks
krameria
kramerias
krameric
krang
krangs
krans
kranses
krantz
krantzes
kranz
kranzes

Literary usage of Kraken

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The works of Alfred, lord Tennyson by Alfred Tennyson (1884)
"THE kraken. BELOW the thunders of the upper deep; Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea, His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep The kraken sleepeth ..."

2. Chambers's Encyclopaedia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge (1901)
"This fact, together with its numerous arms, point to one or other of the large class of cuttle-fishes as the true original of the Scandinavian kraken. ..."

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