Whale

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Whale, n. [OE. whal, AS. hwæl; akin to D. walvisch, G. wal, walfisch, OHG. wal, Icel. hvalr, Dan. & Sw. hval, hvalfisk. Cf. Narwhal, Walrus.].

 Any aquatic mammal of the order Cetacea, especially any one of the large species, some of which become nearly one hundred feet long. Whales are hunted chiefly for their oil and baleen, or whalebone.  [1913 Webster]
" The existing whales are divided into two groups: the toothed whales (Odontocete), including those that have teeth, as the cachalot, or sperm whale (see Sperm whale); and the baleen, or whalebone, whales (Mysticete), comprising those that are destitute of teeth, but have plates of baleen hanging from the upper jaw, as the right whales. The most important species of whalebone whales are the bowhead, or Greenland, whale (see Illust. of Right whale), the Biscay whale, the Antarctic whale, the gray whale (see under Gray), the humpback, the finback, and the rorqual."  [1913 Webster]

Whale bird. (Zoöl.) (a) Any one of several species of large Antarctic petrels which follow whaling vessels, to feed on the blubber and floating oil; especially, Prion turtur (called also blue petrel), and Pseudoprion desolatus. (b) The turnstone; -- so called because it lives on the carcasses of whales. [Canada] -- Whale fin (Com.), whalebone. Simmonds. -- Whale fishery, the fishing for, or occupation of taking, whales. -- Whale louse (Zoöl.), any one of several species of degraded amphipod crustaceans belonging to the genus Cyamus, especially Cyamus ceti. They are parasitic on various cetaceans. -- Whale's bone, ivory. [Obs.] -- Whale shark. (Zoöl.) (a) The basking, or liver, shark. (b) A very large harmless shark (Rhinodon typicus) native of the Indian Ocean. It sometimes becomes sixty feet long. -- Whale shot, the name formerly given to spermaceti. -- Whale's tongue (Zoöl.), a balanoglossus.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Whale, n. (pl. same or whales) any of the larger marine mammals of the order Cetacea, having a streamlined body and horizontal tail, and breathing through a blowhole on the head.

Idiom

a whale of a colloq. an exceedingly good or fine etc. whale-oil oil from the blubber of whales. whale shark a large tropical whalelike shark, Rhincodon typus, feeding close to the surface.

Whale, v.tr. esp. US colloq. beat, thrash.

Etymology

var. of WALE

THESAURUS

Whale

Loch Ness monster, alevin, angle, bait the hook, baste, bastinado, beat, belabor, belt, benthon, benthos, birch, bob, buffet, cane, cetacean, clam, club, cowhide, cudgel, cut, dap, dib, dibble, dinosaur, dolphin, dress down, drive, drub, elephant, fingerling, fish, flagellate, flail, flax, flog, fly-fish, fry, fustigate, game fish, gig, give a dressing-down, give a whipping, give the stick, go fishing, grig, grilse, guddle, hide, hippo, hippopotamus, horsewhip, hulk, jack, jacklight, jig, jumbo, kipper, knout, lace, larrup, lash, lather, lay on, leather, leviathan, lick, mammoth, man-eater, man-eating shark, marine animal, mastodon, minnow, minny, monster, nekton, net, paddle, panfish, pistol-whip, plankton, pommel, porpoise, pummel, rawhide, salmon, scourge, sea monster, sea pig, sea serpent, sea snake, seine, shark, shrimp, smite, smolt, spank, spin, sponge, still-fish, strap, stripe, swinge, switch, tan, thrash, thump, thumper, torch, trawl, trim, troll, tropical fish, trounce, truncheon, wallop, wear out, welt, whip, whop, whopper

ROGET THESAURUS

Whale

Size

N size, magnitude, dimension, bulk, volume, largeness, greatness, expanse, amplitude, mass, proportions, capacity, tonnage, tunnage, cordage, caliber, scantling, turgidity, corpulence, obesity, plumpness, embonpoint, corporation, flesh and blood, lustihood, hugeness, enormity, immensity, monstrosity, giant, Brobdingnagian, Antaeus, Goliath, Gog and Magog, Gargantua, monster, mammoth, Cyclops, cachalot, whale, porpoise, behemoth, leviathan, elephant, hippopotamus, colossus, tun, cord, lump, bulk, block, loaf, mass, swad, clod, nugget, bushel, thumper, whooper, spanker, strapper, Triton among the minnows, mountain, mound, heap, largest portion, full size, life size, large, big, great, considerable, bulky, voluminous, ample, massive, massy, capacious, comprehensive, spacious, mighty, towering, fine, magnificent, corpulent, stout, fat, obese, plump, squab, full, lusty, strapping, bouncing, portly, burly, well-fed, full-grown, corn fed, gram fed, stalwart, brawny, fleshy, goodly, in good case, in good condition, in condition, chopping, jolly, chub faced, chubby faced, lubberly, hulky, unwieldy, lumpish, gaunt, spanking, whacking, whopping, walloping, thumping, thundering, hulking, overgrown, puffy, huge, immense, enormous, mighty, vast, vasty, amplitudinous, stupendous, monster, monstrous, humongous, monumental, elephantine, jumbo, mammoth, gigantic, gigantean, giant, giant like, titanic, prodigious, colossal, Cyclopean, Brobdingnagian, Bunyanesque, Herculean, Gargantuan, infinite, large as life, plump as a dumpling, plump as a partridge, fat as a pig, fat as a quail, fat as butter, fat as brawn, fat as bacon, immeasurable, unfathomable, unplumbed, inconceivable, unimaginable, unheard-of, of cosmic proportions, of epic proportions, the mother of all, teh granddaddy of all.