Emily Dickinson Lexicon

ROR'QUAL, n. [Norwegian rorqualus, a whale with folds.]

An anglification of the natural history term Rorqualis, the name of a genus of cetaceous mammals, or whales, comprising at least three living species of different dimensions, and, as is supposed, several fossil species. The largest is said to be 78 feet long, and its skeleton weighs 28 tons.