Standard Lemma guide

Queequeg

name · noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

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1

name

Meaning 1

A fictional sidekick character in American author Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick, the multiracial tattooed Polynesian cannibal prince and skilled harpooner who became a whaler on European vessels out of wanderlust. Queequeg practices an alien fictional religion and constantly engages in feats of bravado intimidating to the white and ethnically-European protagonist but befriends him and shows no resentment at treatment by white societies. Melville's text describes him as “George Washington cannibalistically developed”.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

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Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A person, fictional character, or other foil who literally or symbolically fulfills one or more of the roles Queequeg played in Moby-Dick such as the noble savage, Entwicklungsroman guru or exemplar, or racially-inflected spear carrier role.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

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