A sea-devil, in Scandinavian mythology, who eats sailors.
“My brothersaw a nicor in the Northern sea. It was three fathoms long, with the body of a bison-bull, and the head of a cat, the beard of a man, and tusks an ell long, lying down on itsbreast. It was watching for the fishermen.”—Kingsley: Hypatia, chap. xii.