DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Nar·whal n.  [Written also narwhale and narwal.] Zool. An arctic cetacean (Monodon monocerous), about twenty feet long.  The male usually has one long, twisted, pointed canine tooth, or tusk, projecting forward from the upper jaw like a horn, whence it is called also sea unicorn, unicorn fish, and unicorn whale. Sometimes two horns are developed, side by side.
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 U·ni·corn n.
 1. A fabulous animal with one horn; the monoceros; -- often represented in heraldry as a supporter.
 2. A two-horned animal of some unknown kind, so called in the Authorized Version of the Scriptures.
    Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow?   --Job xxxix. 10.
 Note: ☞ The unicorn mentioned in the Scripture was probably the urus. See the Note under Reem.
 3. Zool. (a) Any large beetle having a hornlike prominence on the head or prothorax. (b) The larva of a unicorn moth.
 4. Zool. The kamichi; -- called also unicorn bird.
 5. Mil. A howitzer. [Obs.]
 Fossil unicorn, or Fossil unicorn's horn Med., a substance formerly of great repute in medicine; -- named from having been supposed to be the bone or the horn of the unicorn.
 Unicorn fish, Unicorn whale Zool., the narwhal.
 Unicorn moth Zool., a notodontian moth (Coelodasys unicornis) whose caterpillar has a prominent horn on its back; -- called also unicorn prominent.
 Unicorn root Bot., a name of two North American plants, the yellow-flowered colicroot (Aletris farinosa) and the blazing star (Chamaelirium luteum). Both are used in medicine.
 Unicorn shell Zool., any one of several species of marine gastropods having a prominent spine on the lip of the shell. Most of them belong to the genera Monoceros and Leucozonia.
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