Also 8 craken, cracken, kraaken. [Norw. kraken, krakjen (the -n being the suffixed definite article), also called sykraken, sjökrakjen sea-kraken. The name was first brought into general notice by Pontoppidan in his Förste Forsög paa Norges naturlïge Historie (1752).] A mythical sea-monster of enormous size, said to have been seen at times off the coast of Norway.
1755. trans. Pontoppidan’s Nat. Hist. Norway, II. vii. § 11. 211. Amongst the many great things which are in the ocean,… is the Kraken. This creature is the largest and most surprizing of all the animal creation.
1770. Douglas, in Phil. Trans., LX. 41. Enquiry … as to the existence of the aquatic animals, called Kraakens.
1830. Tennyson, Kraken, 4. Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea,… The Kraken sleepeth.
1848. Lowell, Ode to France, 30. Ye are mad, ye have taken A slumbering Kraken For firm land of the Past.
1862. Longf., The Cumberland, vi. Like a kraken huge and black, She crushed our ribs in her iron grasp!
