whalen.

Brit.

/weɪl/, U.S.

/(h)weɪl/

Forms: Old English hwæl, Middle English whal, wal, Middle English wall, Middle English–1600s whall, Middle English wale, Middle English–1500s whalle, 1600s whaill, wheal, Middle English– whale; chiefly Scottish and northernMiddle English qual, Middle English quale, Middle English qwal, qwall(e, qwaylle, Middle English–1500s quhail(l, 1500s quhale, quhell.

Etymology: Old English hwæl , corresponding to Old High German, Middle High German wal (German walfisch whalefish n.), Old Norse hvalr (Swedish, Danish hval), related to Old High German wâlira, welira, Middle High German wâlre, and Middle High German, German wels ( < *χwalis) sheath-fish; compare Prussian kalis sheath-fish.The present form whale represents oblique forms (Old English hwalas, etc.); the Old English nominative hwæl gave 14th–17th cent. whall (compare small, awl, †all, < smæl, æl).

1. Any of the larger fish-like marine mammals of the order Cetacea, which have fore-limbs like fins and a tail with horizontal flukes, and are hunted for their oil and whalebone; in wider (scientific) use, any cetacean of the groups Mystacoceti or whalebone-whales, and Odontoceti or toothed whales (which are distinguished by the names dolphin, grampus, porpoise, etc.).

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > [noun] > member of

whalec893

cetec1220

blubber-fish1756

sea-pig1826

cetacean1835

the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > [noun] > large member of (whale)

whalec893

cethegrandec1220

baleen1387

whalefish?c1510

hurlpool1553

sog1839

blower1854

c893 tr. Orosius Hist. i. i. §16 Se hwæl bið micle læssa þonne oðre hwalas.

c1000 Ælfric Genesis i. 21 God gesceop þa þa micelan hwalas and eall libbende fisc-cinn.

c1055 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia (1885) 8 310 Þa myclan hwælas, & þa lytlan sprottas.

c1220 Bestiary 735 He is blac so bro of qual.

c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 753 He tok þe sturgiun, and þe qual.

c1325 Metr. Hom. 136 Riht als the quale fars wit the elringe, And riht als sturioun etes merling.

c1330 Arth. & Merl. 1495 He hadde a bodi as a whal.

c1386 G. Chaucer Summoner's Tale 222 Me thynketh they been lyk Iovinyan Fat as a whale and walkynge as a swan.

14.. in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 625/11 Wale, cete.

14.. in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 704/15 Hic cetus, a whalle.

c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 523 Whale, or qwal, grete fysche.

1513 G. Douglas in tr. Virgil Æneid vii. Prol. 23 Fludis monstreis, sic as meirs wyne or quhailis.

1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida v. v. 23 And there they flie or die, like scaling sculls, Before the belching Whale.

1707 tr. P. Le Lorrain de Vallemont Curiosities in Husbandry & Gardening 140 Steep your Corn, or any other Seed, in Oil of Whale.

1769 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. (new ed.) III. iv. 35 Whales are still seen one hundred and sixty feet long.

1843 Penny Cycl. XXVII. 272/2 The Toothed Whales are subdivided into those which have teeth in both jaws and those which have teeth in the lower jaw.

1860 P. H. Gosse Romance Nat. Hist. x. 259 The pursuit of the whale, whether that species which our hardy mariners seek amidst the ice-floes of the Polar Seas, or the still huger kind which wallows in the boundless Pacific.

collective singular.1637 I. Jones & W. Davenant Britannia Triumphans 15 And then on Rock he [sc. the giant] stood to bob for Whale.1845 J. Coulter Adventures Pacific vii. 78 While cruising for whale, the look-outs are on the cross trees.

2. Applied to the ‘great fish’ which swallowed Jonah ( Jonah i. 17).

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > fish > unspecified types > [noun]

whalec950

tumbrelc1300

sprout1340

squame1393

codmop1466

whitefish1482

lineshark?a1500

salen1508

glaucus1509

bretcock1522

warcodling1525

razor1530

bassinatc1540

goldeney1542

smy1552

maiden1555

grail1587

whiting1587

needle1589

pintle-fish1591

goldfish1598

puffin fish1598

quap1598

stork1600

black-tail1601

ellops1601

fork-fish1601

sea-grape1601

sea-lizard1601

sea-raven1601

barne1602

plosher1602

whale-mouse1607

bowman1610

catfish1620

hog1620

kettle-fish1630

sharpa1636

carda1641

housewifea1641

roucotea1641

ox-fisha1642

sea-serpent1646

croaker1651

alderling1655

butkin1655

shamefish1655

yard1655

sea-dart1664

sea-pelican1664

Negro1666

sea-parrot1666

sea-blewling1668

sea-stickling1668

skull-fish1668

whale's guide1668

sennet1671

barracuda1678

skate-bread1681

tuck-fish1681

swallowtail1683

piaba1686

pit-fish1686

sand-creeper1686

horned hog1702

soldier1704

sea-crowa1717

bran1720

grunter1726

calcops1727

bennet1731

bonefish1734

Negro fish1735

isinglass-fish1740

orb1740

gollin1747

smelt1776

night-walker1777

water monarch1785

hardhead1792

macaw-fish1792

yellowback1796

sea-raven1797

blueback1812

stumpnose1831

flat1847

butterfish1849

croppie1856

gubbahawn1857

silt1863

silt-snapper1863

mullet-head1866

sailor1883

hogback1893

skipper1898

stocker1904

c950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xii. 40 Suæ forðon wæs ionas in innað vel in wom huales ðrim dagum & ðrim næhtum.

1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) As Jonas was in the womb of a whall three days and three niȝtis.]

c1400 (?c1380) Patience l. 247 Now is ionas þe Iwe iugged to drowne;..A wylde walterande whal..bi þat bot flotte.

?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) l. 572 Grete god..Þat saued þe prophete with in þe whall.

1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Acts ii. f. 22–28 Euen as did y^e whale reuomit the prophet Ionas.

a1586 A. Montgomerie Misc. Poems xxxi. 35 Ionas, in þe quhellis bellie, þow safit thre dayis.

1687 A. Lovell tr. J. de Thévenot Trav. into Levant i. 41 Jona's Whale is also to go to Paradise.

†3. whale of the river, river-whale: = sheat-fish n. a large freshwater fish, Silurus glanis. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > order Siluriformes (catfish) > [noun] > family Siluridae > genus Silurus (sheat-fish)

whale of the river1585

sheat-fish1589

river-whale1601

Silurus1601

sheath-fish1602

nimble-taila1661

shoat-fish1705

wels1880

1585 J. Higgins tr. Junius Nomenclator 69/2 Silurus,..a fish much like a Sturgeon: a sheathfishe; a whale of the riuer.

1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Silure, the rauening sheat fish, or Whall of the riuer.

4. transferred (from sense 1). An object resembling a whale; Astronomy (with capital initial) the constellation Cetus.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the universe > constellation > Southern constellations > [noun] > Cetus

whale1556

whale's back1573

whale's belly1573

whale's tail1573

the world > the earth > land > land mass > reef > sandbank > [noun]

sand-ridgec1000

hurst1398

shelp1430

sand1495

ayre1539

bar1587

knock1587

sandbank1589

middle ground1653

middle1702

overslaugh1755

sandbar1767

sea-bank1828

tow-head1829

wharf1867

whale1905

horse1926

1556 R. Record Castle of Knowl. 267 The greate Whale, contayning 22 starres.

1665 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 1 5 In the evening of that day it [sc. a comet] was to come into the jaw of the Whale.

1760 Ann. Reg., Chron. 66/1 The comet..passed..toward the whale's jaw.

1867 W. Lockyer & J. N. Lockyer tr. A. Guillemin Heavens (ed. 2) ii. i. viii. 356 Among the single stars of reddish tint, we may quote..a star in the Whale, the famous Mira Ceti.

1905 F. M. Crawford Glean. Venet. Hist. I. 5 When the first fugitives, blind with terror, stumbled ashore upon the back of one of the sand whales in the lagoon.

5. Allusive, proverbial, transferred, and figurative uses of sense 1.

a. Prov. phr. (to throw out) a tub to the whale: see tub n.¹ 9b very like a whale (after Shakespeare Hamlet iii. ii. 398): see quot. 1859.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > improbability, unlikeliness > [adjective] > extremely

very like a whale1859

the mind > mental capacity > expectation > feeling of wonder, astonishment > quality of inspiring wonder > [adjective] > with quality of strangeness

selcouthc888

uncouthc900

sellya1000

ferly?c1225

strangec1374

nicec1395

ferlifula1400

monsterfulc1460

portentous1553

miraculous1569

vengible1594

strangefula1618

phenomenous1743

phenomenala1850

very like a whale1859

weird and wonderful1859

fourth-dimensional1902

out of this world1941

unreal1965

1591 Troublesome Raigne Iohn i. sig. D The marriner, Spying the hugie Whale, whose monstrous bulke Doth beare the waues like mountaines fore the winde, That throwes out emptie vessells, so to stay His furie.]

1859 J. C. Hotten Dict. Slang 115 Very like a whale, said of anything that is very improbable.

b. allusively.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > taking > seizing > [noun] > unscrupulous or rapacious

scamblingc1538

whale1606

game of grab1883

the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > [noun] > devouring (of fire, etc.) > that which devours (of fire, insects, etc.) > one who or that which consumes time, money, etc.

consumerc1425

gulf1538

locust1545

moth1577

depastor1583

whale1606

consumptive1739

society > authority > rule or government > oppression > [noun] > domineering or overbearing > domineering person

termagant1508

overdog1908

whale1914

bossy-boots1983

1606 T. Dekker Seuen Deadly Sinnes London i. sig. C1 Be wise therefore,..play with these Whales of the Sea, till you escape them that are deuourers of your Merchants.

a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) iv. iii. 225 A..lasciuious boy, who is a whale to Virginity, and deuours vp all the fry it finds.

1914 Marriott in Edinb. Rev. July 1 Amid a shoal of minnows they promptly pose as authoritative whales.

c. figurative phrase a whale on…, having a great capacity or appetite for…, very good at or keen on... a whale of (originally U.S.): ‘no end of’. colloquial.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > ability > skill or skilfulness > [adjective] > at something spec.

goodeOE

great1552

singular1606

hot1845

a whale on1893

smoking1934

tasty1974

the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > strong or eager desire > [phrase]

a whale on1893

the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > excellence > [phrase]

not to be the rose but to be near it1818

a whale of1913

a snip of a1932

the best (or greatest, etc.) thing since sliced bread1958

1893 J. H. McCarthy Red Diamonds xxiii He was not, as he put it himself graphically, a whale on geography.

1899 A. Marshall Peter Binney xvi. 326 I should be a whale on parental authority myself if I were in your place.

1913 19th Cent. Sept. 621 [They] had what the Americans call ‘a whale of a good time’.

1921 Chambers's Jrnl. May 308/1 He had come here to have one whale of a time.

1938 G. Heyer Blunt Instrument iii. 45 It doesn't look such a whale of a case to me.

1954 J. B. Priestley Magicians i. 15 An equally dashing, whale-of-a-fellow, R.A.F. type.

1963 N. Marsh Dead Water (1964) i. 22 She's having a whale of a time with Mr. Joyce.

1980 B. Castle Castle Diaries 363 They regaled us with drinks and a superb buffet and we had a whale of a time.

Compounds

C1. With defining words for various species:

e.g. black whale n. at black adj. and n. Compounds 1e(c), bottlenose n. 3, ca'ing-whale n., fin-whale n., fin-backed whale at fin n.¹ Compounds 2, finner n., Greenland whale n. at Greenland n. 1, grey whale n. at grey adj. and n. Compounds 1c(b), humpback whale n. at humpback adj., ice whale n. at ice n. Compounds 8, pike whale n. at pike n.¹ Compounds, piked whale n., pike-headed whale n. at pike-headed adj.¹, pilot whale n. at pilot n. and adj. Compounds 2, right whale n., round-lipped whale (round-lipped adj. at round adj. Compounds 1a), scrag-whale n. at scrag n.¹ 5, spermaceti whale n. at spermaceti n. 2, sperm whale n., whalebone-whale n. at whalebone n. Compounds 2, white whale n. at white adj. and n. Compounds 1f.

beaked whale n. (see quots.).

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > suborder Odontoceti > [noun] > family Ziphiidae > other types of

beaked whale1755

Sowerby's whale1920

1755 A. Berthelson tr. E. Pontoppidan Nat. Hist. Norway ii. 123 I shall call it Balæna rostrata, or Nebbe-hval, the Beaked Whale.

1920 Brit. Mus. Return 89 Cuvier's Beaked Whale (Ziphius cavirostris).

bowhead whale n. (see quot.).

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > suborder Mystacoceti > [noun] > family Balaenidae (right whale) > genus Balaena (bowhead)

steeple-topc1440

Greenland whale1648

right whale1726

north-caper1731

nordcaper1762

mysticete1797

icebreaker1869

poggy1871

bowhead whale1883

bay whale1947

1883 Official Catal. Internat. Fisheries Exhib. (ed. 4) 201 Slabs of whalebone of Bowhead Whale.

Sowerby's whale n. (see quot.).

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > suborder Odontoceti > [noun] > family Ziphiidae > other types of

beaked whale1755

Sowerby's whale1920

1920 Brit. Mus. Return 101 Tooth of a Sowerby's Whale (Mesoplodon bidens).

C2.

a. General attributive.

(a)

whale blubber n. [blubber n.¹ 4]

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > other animal raw materials > [noun] > whale-blubber

blubber1665

bacon1712

whale blubber1844

the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > [noun] > large member of (whale) > parts of > blubber or flesh

fritters1631

speck1743

flench-gut1808

fenks1820

kent1820

whale blubber1844

plum pudding1851

rind1870

1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm II. 646 Whale-blubber..forms a good compost for turnips.

1845 C. Darwin Jrnl. (ed. 2) x. 214 A..piece of putrid whales-blubber.

whale-butt n.

ΚΠ

1835 J. Batman Jrnl. in K. Cornwallis Panorama New World (1859) I. App. i. 369 The ‘Belinda’, of Sydney, with a cargo of whale-butts.

whale-calf n. [calf n.¹ 3]

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > [noun] > large member of (whale) > young

suckerc1384

calfa1398

cub1600

short-head1726

stunt1726

calf-whale1829

whale-calf1867

whale-cub1885

1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Whale-calf, the young whale.

whale-catching n.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > [noun]

whale-fishing1582

whale-hunting1615

whale-killing1625

whalery1683

whale-catching1685

whaling1704

whale-fishery1820

whale-striking1821

sperm-whaling1851

1685 R. Turner in W. Penn Furth. Acc. Pennsylv. 13 Three Companies for Whale catching.

whale-cry n.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > [noun] > cry on sighting of whale

whale-cry1851

1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick liv. 269 The ancient whale-cry upon first sighting a whale from the mast-head.

whale-cub n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > [noun] > large member of (whale) > young

suckerc1384

calfa1398

cub1600

short-head1726

stunt1726

calf-whale1829

whale-calf1867

whale-cub1885

1885 J. G. Wood in Longman's Mag. Mar. 552 The whale-cub, when first formed, has no baleen.

whale-cutter n.

ΚΠ

1631 E. Pellham Gods Power sig. A4^v Thomas Ayers, Whale-cutter.

whale-drive n. [drive n. 2]

whale-duty n.

ΚΠ

1668 W. Prynne Aurum Reginæ 127 This Whale Duty hath been totally suspended..from the death of King Henry the 8, till the first year of King James, for want of a Queen Consort.

whale-ground n.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > [noun] > whaling-ground

whale-fishery1705

whale-ground1851

whale-hole1897

1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick lxxxi. 390 However curious it may seem for an oil-ship to be borrowing oil on the whale-ground.

whale-guts n.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > other animal raw materials > [noun] > gut > types of

catgut1599

whale-guts1780

silkworm gut1833

gut1834

whipcord1880

1780 W. Coxe Acct. Russ. Discov. 256 Cloaks,..made of thin whale guts.

whale-hole n.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > [noun] > whaling-ground

whale-fishery1705

whale-ground1851

whale-hole1897

1897 R. Kipling Captains Courageous v, in McClure's Mag. Jan. 230/2 ‘Whale-hole.’.. He had led them to the edge of the barren Whale-Deep, the blank hole of the Grand Bank.

whale-hunt n.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > [noun] > whale-hunt

whale-hunt1851

1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick cv. 512 The far different nature of the whale-hunt.

whale-hunter n. (cf. Old English hwælhunta).

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > whale-hunter > [noun]

whale-hunter1598

whale-killer1613

whale-striker1613

whaler1684

whaleman1704

whalefisherman1724

whale-fisher1773

sperm-whaler1834

whalermana1894

1598 in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (new ed.) I. 4 He was come as far towards the North, as commonly the whale hunters vse to trauell.

1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick xvi. 82 Some of these same Quakers are the most sanguinary of all sailors and whale-hunters.

whale-hunting n. (cf. Old English hwælhuntaþ).

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > [noun]

whale-fishing1582

whale-hunting1615

whale-killing1625

whalery1683

whale-catching1685

whaling1704

whale-fishery1820

whale-striking1821

sperm-whaling1851

1615 Trade's Incr. 52 The Greenland company, out of the pretence of their first Whale-hunting.

1868 D. Gorrie Summers & Winters in Orkneys viii. 323 The whale-hunting fleet.

whale-killer n.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > whale-hunter > [noun]

whale-hunter1598

whale-killer1613

whale-striker1613

whaler1684

whaleman1704

whalefisherman1724

whale-fisher1773

sperm-whaler1834

whalermana1894

1613 Voy. Spitzbergen in Archaeologia Americana (1860) 4 305 When he enters into the sounds, our whal-killers doe presentlie sallie forth to meet him.

whale-killing n.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > [noun]

whale-fishing1582

whale-hunting1615

whale-killing1625

whalery1683

whale-catching1685

whaling1704

whale-fishery1820

whale-striking1821

sperm-whaling1851

1625 S. Purchas Pilgrimes III. iii. 461 The first setled, ordinary, and orderly Voyages for the Whale killing.

1703 W. Dampier Voy. New Holland ii. 57 About Christmas these are mostly imployed in Whale-killing.

whale-kind n.

ΚΠ

1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) at Manati A Fish of the Whale-kind that breeds about the Island of Hispaniola.

whale-meat n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > seafood > [noun] > flesh of cetaceans

grapeys1324

sea-beef1672

whale-meat1875

1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2761/1 Time has passed since the people of England reveled in whale meat.

whale-spout n.

ΚΠ

1836 Uncle Philip's Conversat. Whale Fishery 349 They heard whale-spouts near them.

whale-steak n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > seafood > [noun] > flesh of cetaceans > parts or cuts

Bible-leaf1851

whale-steak1851

muktuk1880

1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick lxiv. 328 Don't I always say that to be good, a whale-steak must be tough?

1969 Listener 14 Aug. 206/3 What did we eat? Well, we ate whale-steak for one thing.

whale-striker n.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > whale-hunter > [noun]

whale-hunter1598

whale-killer1613

whale-striker1613

whaler1684

whaleman1704

whalefisherman1724

whale-fisher1773

sperm-whaler1834

whalermana1894

1613 Voy. Spitzbergen in Archaeologia Americana (1860) 4 289 Then the Basks, our whale-strikers, went presentlie back againe to the Foreland w^th their shallops.

whale-striking n.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > [noun]

whale-fishing1582

whale-hunting1615

whale-killing1625

whalery1683

whale-catching1685

whaling1704

whale-fishery1820

whale-striking1821

sperm-whaling1851

1821 W. Scott Pirate II. vii. 166 No whale-striking, bird-nesting favourite for me.

whale-trade n.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > specific types of trade > [noun] > trade in other specific articles

pig market1647

lumber-trade1689

oilery1830

whale-trade1840

shoe-trade1850

nitrate trade1871

cannabusiness1980

1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast v. 42 He had been forty years in the whale trade.

whale-vessel n.

ΚΠ

1831 W. Scott Pirate (new ed.) II. xviii. 302 A garland of faded ribbons, such as are used to decorate whale-vessels.

(b) In names of weapons, etc. used in hunting whales.

whale-gun n.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > whaling equipment > [noun] > gun

harpoon-gun1820

whale-gun1858

1858 Mercantile Marine Mag. 5 149 The crew.. murdered the Captain and third officer by shooting them with a whale-gun.

whale-lance n.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > whaling equipment > [noun] > lance or pole

lancet1753

whale-lance1823

waif-pole1839

whale-pike1851

whale-pole1851

gun-lance1883

1823 W. Scoresby Jrnl. Voy. Northern Whale-fishery 112 Armed only with a whale-lance, he..set out on his adventurous exploit.

whale-line n.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > whaling equipment > [noun] > rope or line

whale-line1785

whale-pole1851

1785 Act 25 Geo. III c. 56 §2 Short Chucking, Half Clean, Whale-line, or other Toppings.

1897 F. T. Bullen Cruise ‘Cachalot’ 12 The whale-line, manilla rope like yellow silk, 1½ inch round, was brought on deck.

whale-net n.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > whaling equipment > [noun] > net

whale-net1853

1853 E. K. Kane U.S. Grinnell Exped. xlvi. 426 Stalwart fellows, practiced in the kayack, and the sledge, and the whale-net.

whale-pike n.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > whaling equipment > [noun] > lance or pole

lancet1753

whale-lance1823

waif-pole1839

whale-pike1851

whale-pole1851

gun-lance1883

1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick liv. 280 The valiant Captain danced up and down with a whale-pike.

whale-pole n.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > whaling equipment > [noun] > lance or pole

lancet1753

whale-lance1823

waif-pole1839

whale-pike1851

whale-pole1851

gun-lance1883

society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > whaling equipment > [noun] > rope or line

whale-line1785

whale-pole1851

1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick lvi. 300 The flag of capture lazily hanging from the whale-pole inserted into his spout-hole.

whale-rope n.

ΚΠ

1849 H. Melville Redburn xx. 127 Coiled away in a tub like a whale-rope.

1857 in G. O. Trevelyan Competition Wallah (1866) 342 A coil of whale rope.

whale-spade n.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > cutting up whale or seal > [noun] > knife or hook

blubber-spade1820

spade1820

strand knife1820

tail-knife1820

blubber-hook1835

whale-spade1852

mincing knifea1884

1852 G. C. Mundy Our Antipodes II. iii. 51 The harpoon, the axe, the lance, and the whale-spade.

(c)

whale-blue adj.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > colour > named colours > blue or blueness > [adjective] > other blues

mourning1709

Prussian blue1753

water blue1851

beryl-blue1881

Wedgwood1900

scale-blue1906

Nattier blue1912

whale-blue1946

1946 D. Thomas Deaths & Entrances 55 The coast Blackened with birds took a last look At his thrashing hair and whale-blue eye.

whale-like adj.

ΚΠ

1608 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. (new ed.) ii. iv. 109 This mighty Fish, of Whale-like hugines.

1855 J. R. Leifchild Cornwall: Mines & Miners 166 The large whale-like back of a prostrate pillar.

whale-mouthed adj.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > mouth > [adjective] > types of

round-mouthed?1473

shevel?1507

tut-mouthed?a1513

wry-mouthed1552

pouch-mouth1565

plaice-moutha1569

out-lipped1570

pouch-mouthed?a1592

flap-mouthed1594

wide-mouthed1594

plaice-mouthed1595

big-mouthed1602

sparrow-mouthed1611

stretch-moutheda1616

splay-mouthed1647

wry-mouth1652

whale-mouthed1656

out-mouthed1698

spout-mouthed?1711

mickle-mouthed1720

sheveling-gabbit1725

mickle-mouth1863

tenible1871

primped1935

the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > an opening or aperture > [adjective] > having (a) hole(s) > having (spec. type of) mouth

narrow-mouthed1563

large-mouthed1576

bell-mouthed1797

whale-mouthed1952

1656 F. Osborne Advice to Son (ed. 4) To Rdr. As I did then, in imitation of Sea-men by designe, so I may perhaps now cast out some empty stuffe, to find play for the Whale-mouth'd gapers after Levity.

1952 L. MacNeice Ten Burnt Offerings ii. 23 The whale-mouthed arch the bones of the future.

whale-shaped adj.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > shape > curvature > curved three-dimensional shape or body > cylinder > [adjective] > of other cylindrical shapes

caked1686

tuberose1704

cucumiform1826

sausage-like1852

bolt1859

cigar-shaped1887

torpedo-shaped1903

sausagey1921

whale-shaped1930

Zeppelinistic1930

top hat1958

1930 Times Educ. Suppl. 25 Oct. p. iv/1 In the whale-shaped head is a window for the driver.

1978 M. Puzo Fools Die ii. 16 White-dotted red square dice were dazzling flying fish over the whale-shaped crap tables.

whale-spoilt adj.

whale-tailed adj.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > [adjective] > of or like a whale > having tail

whale-tailed1781

1781 T. Pennant Hist. Quadrupeds II. 537 Whale-tailed Manati.

b. Special combinations. Also whaleback n., whale-bird n., whale-boat n., whalebone n., whale-fin n., etc.

whale-acorn-shell n. (see quot.).

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > subclass Entomostraca > order Cirripedia > suborder Thoracica > member of family Balanidae

balanus1728

acorn1737

sea-acorn1755

acorn shell1763

whale-acorn-shell1815

acorn barnacle1835

balanid1835

balanoid1869

1815 E. J. Burrow Elements Conchol. 194 Balanoides, Small, striated Acorn S[hell]. Diadema, Whale Do.

whale-barnacle n. = coronule n. 2.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > subclass Entomostraca > order Cirripedia > suborder Thoracica > member of genus Coronula

coronule1835

whale-barnacle1854

1854 A. Adams et al. Man. Nat. Hist. 305 Whale-Barnacles (Coronulidæ).

whale-brit n. [brit n.¹] = whale food n.

whale-deep n. = whale-hole n. at Compounds 2a(a).

ΚΠ

1897 R. Kipling Captains Courageous v, in McClure's Mag. Jan. 230/2 He had led them to the edge of the barren Whale-Deep, the blank hole of the Grand Bank.

whale-feed n. = whale food n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Mollusca > [noun] > mollusc or shell-fish

shellfishc888

oyster1419

cochle?1527

shale-fish1596

scale-fish1601

shell1751

ox-heart1753

mollusc1783

molluscum1832

molluscan1835

polybranchian1839

coquillage1851

whale-feed1853

siphonate1877

scungille1953

1853 Househ. Words VI. 402/1 The little red creatures (‘whale feed’, sailors call them) are retained by the fringe [of the baleen].

whale food n. (also whale's food) [translating German Walfischaas (1747)] a general name for the small animals upon which whales feed; spec. a mollusc, Clio borealis.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Mollusca > [noun] > class Pteropoda > Clio borealis

whale food1767

Clio1835

1767 tr. D. Cranz Hist. Greenland I. 109 This whale's-food is found in the greatest quantity between Spitzberg..and Greenland.

1865 P. H. Gosse Land & Sea 166 The immense aggregations of close~packed swimming invertebrata so well known to mariners in Arctic regions under the appellation of ‘whale-food’.

whale-foots n. [foot n. 18] the refuse in refining whale oil, used by soap-makers and tanners.

whale-gull n. the ivory gull (gull n.¹).

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > order Charadriiformes > family Laridae (gulls and terns) > [noun] > member of genus Larus (gull) > larus eburnea (ivory gull)

whale-bird1771

snow-bird1802

senator1852

whale-gull1852

ivory gull1885

1852 W. Macgillivray Hist. Brit. Birds V. 508 Cetosparactes eburneus. The Ivory Whale-gull.

whale-head n. the shoebill or whale-headed stork, Balæniceps rex; also called whale-headed stork n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > freshwater birds > order Ciconiiformes (storks, etc.) > [noun] > family Balaenicipitidae (shoe-bill)

shoe-bill1861

shoe-bird1861

shoe-beak1869

whale-headed stork1875

whale-head1884

1884 E. Coues Key to N. Amer. Birds (ed. 2) 654 Balæniceps rex, the Shoe-bill or Whale-head, of Africa.

whale-headed stork n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > freshwater birds > order Ciconiiformes (storks, etc.) > [noun] > family Balaenicipitidae (shoe-bill)

shoe-bill1861

shoe-bird1861

shoe-beak1869

whale-headed stork1875

whale-head1884

1875 Encycl. Brit. III. 759/1 The gigantic Whale-headed Stork, Balæniceps rex.

† whale-horn n. Obsolete whalebone.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > suborder Mystacoceti > [noun] > member of > whalebone and surrounding parts

whale-horn1562

whalebone1604

whale-fin1612

blade1803

whalebone-hair1820

society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > bone or horn > [noun] > bone > whalebone

baleenc1325

whale-horn1562

whalebone1604

fin1634

1562 in Inv. Mary Q. Scots (Bannatyne Club) Pref. p. xxviii (note) xij bowtis of quhaill horne.

whale-laid adj. of a rope (see quot.).

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > shape > curvature > coil > [adjective] > disposed in or forming (a) coil(s) > of rope in specific manner

whale-laid1812

society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > other manufactured or derived materials > [adjective] > made of rope or cord > types of

twine1513

twice-laid1592

basten1677

cable-laid1723

hawser-laid1769

water-laid1795

registered1800

shroud-laid1800

whale-laid1812

strap-laid1839

four-strand1867

locked-coil1885

trifilar1903

1812 G. W. Manby Ess. Preserv. Shipwr. Persons 17 It may likewise be coiled in the manner used in the whale fishery. Whale laid.

whale-louse n. a small crustacean of the genus Cyamus, parasitic on whales.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > subclass Malacostraca > division Arthostraca > order Amphipoda > suborder Caprellidea > member of genus Cyamus

whale-louse1774

1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VI. 203 A small animal, of the shell-fish kind, called the Whale-louse, that sticks to its body.

1916 R. C. Andrews Whale Hunting with Gun & Camera xxi. 248 This growth [on the snout of the right whale] is produced by whale lice.

1952 J. Fisher Fulmar xviii. 423 He writes of the fulmars ‘searching out’ whale-lice.

1972 National Geographic Oct. 579 (caption) Communities of whale lice..some of them half an inch long, cling to the growths [on the head of each right whale].

whale-master n. the captain of a whaling-boat.

ΚΠ

1924 Chambers's Jrnl. Feb. 95/2 I dine with the whale-masters and officers.

whale-mouse n. = whale's guide n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > fish > unspecified types > [noun]

whalec950

tumbrelc1300

sprout1340

squame1393

codmop1466

whitefish1482

lineshark?a1500

salen1508

glaucus1509

bretcock1522

warcodling1525

razor1530

bassinatc1540

goldeney1542

smy1552

maiden1555

grail1587

whiting1587

needle1589

pintle-fish1591

goldfish1598

puffin fish1598

quap1598

stork1600

black-tail1601

ellops1601

fork-fish1601

sea-grape1601

sea-lizard1601

sea-raven1601

barne1602

plosher1602

whale-mouse1607

bowman1610

catfish1620

hog1620

kettle-fish1630

sharpa1636

carda1641

housewifea1641

roucotea1641

ox-fisha1642

sea-serpent1646

croaker1651

alderling1655

butkin1655

shamefish1655

yard1655

sea-dart1664

sea-pelican1664

Negro1666

sea-parrot1666

sea-blewling1668

sea-stickling1668

skull-fish1668

whale's guide1668

sennet1671

barracuda1678

skate-bread1681

tuck-fish1681

swallowtail1683

piaba1686

pit-fish1686

sand-creeper1686

horned hog1702

soldier1704

sea-crowa1717

bran1720

grunter1726

calcops1727

bennet1731

bonefish1734

Negro fish1735

isinglass-fish1740

orb1740

gollin1747

smelt1776

night-walker1777

water monarch1785

hardhead1792

macaw-fish1792

yellowback1796

sea-raven1797

blueback1812

stumpnose1831

flat1847

butterfish1849

croppie1856

gubbahawn1857

silt1863

silt-snapper1863

mullet-head1866

sailor1883

hogback1893

skipper1898

stocker1904

the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > suborder Mystacoceti > [noun] > member of

whale-mouse1607

skull-fish1668

whale's guide1668

bonefish1734

mysticete1797

baleen whale1874

mystacocete1883

1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 504 A little fishe called..in Greeke Mystocetos, the Whale-mouse.

whale-pool n. humorous the Atlantic ocean (cf. herring-pond n.).

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > water > sea or ocean > specific seas > [noun] > Atlantic Ocean

Atlantica1387

Western Ocean1576

pond1612

Great Lake1684

mid-Atlantic1804

millpond1813

Middle Atlantic1826

puddle1869

whale-poola1876

a1876 M. Collins Pen Sketches (1879) II. 145 This is one of the good turns for which I am grateful to our friends across the whale-pool.

whale's back n. a star in the constellation Cetus (see 4).

ΘΚΠ

the world > the universe > constellation > Southern constellations > [noun] > Cetus

whale1556

whale's back1573

whale's belly1573

whale's tail1573

1573 W. Bourne Regim. for Sea (1580) 59 b The names of the Starres..Whales backe. Whales belly... Whales tayle.

whale's belly n. see whale's back n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the universe > constellation > Southern constellations > [noun] > Cetus

whale1556

whale's back1573

whale's belly1573

whale's tail1573

1573 [see whale's back n.].

† whale's guide n. Obsolete the animal called by Pliny musculus piscis (cf. note s.v. mysticete n.¹).

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > fish > unspecified types > [noun]

whalec950

tumbrelc1300

sprout1340

squame1393

codmop1466

whitefish1482

lineshark?a1500

salen1508

glaucus1509

bretcock1522

warcodling1525

razor1530

bassinatc1540

goldeney1542

smy1552

maiden1555

grail1587

whiting1587

needle1589

pintle-fish1591

goldfish1598

puffin fish1598

quap1598

stork1600

black-tail1601

ellops1601

fork-fish1601

sea-grape1601

sea-lizard1601

sea-raven1601

barne1602

plosher1602

whale-mouse1607

bowman1610

catfish1620

hog1620

kettle-fish1630

sharpa1636

carda1641

housewifea1641

roucotea1641

ox-fisha1642

sea-serpent1646

croaker1651

alderling1655

butkin1655

shamefish1655

yard1655

sea-dart1664

sea-pelican1664

Negro1666

sea-parrot1666

sea-blewling1668

sea-stickling1668

skull-fish1668

whale's guide1668

sennet1671

barracuda1678

skate-bread1681

tuck-fish1681

swallowtail1683

piaba1686

pit-fish1686

sand-creeper1686

horned hog1702

soldier1704

sea-crowa1717

bran1720

grunter1726

calcops1727

bennet1731

bonefish1734

Negro fish1735

isinglass-fish1740

orb1740

gollin1747

smelt1776

night-walker1777

water monarch1785

hardhead1792

macaw-fish1792

yellowback1796

sea-raven1797

blueback1812

stumpnose1831

flat1847

butterfish1849

croppie1856

gubbahawn1857

silt1863

silt-snapper1863

mullet-head1866

sailor1883

hogback1893

skipper1898

stocker1904

the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > suborder Mystacoceti > [noun] > member of

whale-mouse1607

skull-fish1668

whale's guide1668

bonefish1734

mysticete1797

baleen whale1874

mystacocete1883

1668 W. Charleton Onomasticon Zoicon 125 Cetorum Dux..the Whales Guide.

1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) at Mysticetus A Fish, call'd the Whale's Guide.

whale-shark n. (a) a very large shark, Rhinodon typicus; (b) the basking-shark (basking adj. 2).

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > fish > subclass Elasmobranchii > order Pleurotremata > [noun] > member of family Rhinodontidae

rhinodon1850

rhinodont1859

whale-shark1884

1884–5 Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888) III. 78 The Rhinodontidæ embraces only two species of large sharks, one of which well deserves the name whale-shark, which is applied to it.

whale-ship n. = whale-boat n.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > fishing vessel > [noun] > whaling vessel

Greenlandman1659

whale-boat1682

whalefisherman1724

whaleman1767

whaler1806

spouter1815

whale-ship1820

catcher1829

sperm-whaler1834

blubber-boiler1851

plum-puddinger1851

five-boater1887

bay whaler1905

1820 W. Scoresby Acct. Arctic Regions II. 199 The crew of a whale-ship usually consists of 40 to 50 men.

† whale-shot n. [shot n.¹ 19] Obsolete spermaceti.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > [noun] > large member of (whale) > parts of > spermaceti or oil

spermaceti1471

whale-shot1612

amber1663

sperm oil1839

shot1914

1612 Bk. Customs & Valuation in A. Halyburton Ledger (1867) 332 Whale shote the barrell, xx li.

whale's tail n. see whale's back n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the universe > constellation > Southern constellations > [noun] > Cetus

whale1556

whale's back1573

whale's belly1573

whale's tail1573

1573 [see whale's back n.].

Draft additions 1993

plural. Anchovies on toast. School slang and University slang (now historical).

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > bread > bread with spread or filling > [noun] > bread with seafood

oyster loafeOE

oyster bread1601

anchovy toast1769

whales1890

1890 A. Barrère & C. G. Leland Dict. Slang II. 407 Whale (Cheltenham College). Codfish, sardines, are called whales at the Royal Military Academy. (Common), anchovies on toast.

1926 M. R. James Eton & King's xxiii. 243 Dishes of whales (anchovy toast) in the fender.

1983 M. Cox M. R. James vi. 57 They were held at 9.45–10 p.m. on Saturdays at the rooms of the reader of the paper, who provided coffee, a cup, and whales (anchovy toast).

Draft additions September 2007

whale watch n. an instance of whale watching; an excursion for this purpose.

ΚΠ

1955 Bennington (Vermont) Evening Banner 16 Mar. 3/4 Ken Norris..and his staff of 12 keep a daylight whale watch to count the schools of California Gray whales that head south to spawn off the coast of Mexico.

1964 Independent Star-News (Pasadena, Calif.) 29 Nov. a2/1 Pierpoint Landing..has scheduled ‘whale watch’ cruises every winter for the past seven years.

2004 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 25 July xv. 8/4 Boston Harbor Cruises runs five whale watches a day.

Draft additions September 2007

whale watcher n. a person who engages in whale watching.

ΚΠ

1955 Fresno (Calif.) Bee Republican 23 Jan. 11 a You have heard of bird watchers but did you ever hear of a whale watcher?

2003 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 13 July 27/1 Whale watchers keen to see the albino humpback migrating north along the Queensland coast will have to keep their distance, or risk being fined $12,000.

Draft additions September 2007

whale watching n. the observation of surfacing whales, esp. as a commercial activity in which tourists are taken by boat or air to an appropriate area of water.

ΚΠ

1955 Fresno (Calif.) Bee Republican 23 Jan. 11 a (heading) Whale watching popularity is increasing in Southland.

2004 Nature 29 Apr. p. vii/2 ‘Whale watching’ is a growing leisure activity in the coastal waters of Washington state.

Draft additions September 2018

whale song n. sounds, resembling or suggestive of singing, made as a means of communication by certain whales, esp. humpback whales; a sequence of such sounds.In later use, often in the context of recordings of these sounds being used as a relaxation tool.

ΚΠ

1819 A. Fisher Jrnl. 5 Aug. in Jrnl. Voy. Arctic Regions 1819–20 (1821) 74 The thing..is a sort of whistling noise that these fish [sc. beluga whales] made when under the surface of the water... The men..repeatedly urged one another to pull smartly, in order to get near the place..for the purpose of hearing what they called a ‘whale-song’.

1970 N.Y. Times 17 Feb. 36/2 The whale songs—the term is used by scientists for the sounds by which the creatures communicate while under water—were taken by the composer from tapes made in the Atlantic Ocean.

1986 Daily Mail 8 Apr. An engrossing programme about whales and the mysterious keening sounds they emit (the so-called whale-song) which can be picked up by other whales hundreds of miles away.

1995 Stress Factor (Reader's Digest) 41/3 Some people find that listening to the beautiful and haunting sounds of a whale song mentally transports them to the stress-free shores of the ocean.

2009 Western Morning News (Plymouth) (Nexis) 6 Mar. 9 Most spas play some kind of relaxing soundtrack while you're stretched out enjoying a massage: pan pipes, or whale song, or the shushing of waves on the shore.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1923; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	whale
释义	whalen. Brit. /weɪl/, U.S. /(h)weɪl/ Forms: Old English hwæl, Middle English whal, wal, Middle English wall, Middle English–1600s whall, Middle English wale, Middle English–1500s whalle, 1600s whaill, wheal, Middle English– whale; chiefly Scottish and northernMiddle English qual, Middle English quale, Middle English qwal, qwall(e, qwaylle, Middle English–1500s quhail(l, 1500s quhale, quhell. Etymology: Old English hwæl , corresponding to Old High German, Middle High German wal (German walfisch whalefish n.), Old Norse hvalr (Swedish, Danish hval), related to Old High German wâlira, welira, Middle High German wâlre, and Middle High German, German wels ( < χwalis) sheath-fish; compare Prussian kalis* sheath-fish.The present form whale represents oblique forms (Old English hwalas, etc.); the Old English nominative hwæl gave 14th–17th cent. whall (compare small, awl, †all, < smæl, æl). 1. Any of the larger fish-like marine mammals of the order Cetacea, which have fore-limbs like fins and a tail with horizontal flukes, and are hunted for their oil and whalebone; in wider (scientific) use, any cetacean of the groups Mystacoceti or whalebone-whales, and Odontoceti or toothed whales (which are distinguished by the names dolphin, grampus, porpoise, etc.). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > [noun] > member of whalec893 cetec1220 blubber-fish1756 sea-pig1826 cetacean1835 the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > [noun] > large member of (whale) whalec893 cethegrandec1220 baleen1387 whalefish?c1510 hurlpool1553 sog1839 blower1854 c893 tr. Orosius Hist. i. i. §16 Se hwæl bið micle læssa þonne oðre hwalas. c1000 Ælfric Genesis i. 21 God gesceop þa þa micelan hwalas and eall libbende fisc-cinn. c1055 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia (1885) 8 310 Þa myclan hwælas, & þa lytlan sprottas. c1220 Bestiary 735 He is blac so bro of qual. c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 753 He tok þe sturgiun, and þe qual. c1325 Metr. Hom. 136 Riht als the quale fars wit the elringe, And riht als sturioun etes merling. c1330 Arth. & Merl. 1495 He hadde a bodi as a whal. c1386 G. Chaucer Summoner's Tale 222 Me thynketh they been lyk Iovinyan Fat as a whale and walkynge as a swan. 14.. in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 625/11 Wale, cete. 14.. in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 704/15 Hic cetus, a whalle. c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 523 Whale, or qwal, grete fysche. 1513 G. Douglas in tr. Virgil Æneid vii. Prol. 23 Fludis monstreis, sic as meirs wyne or quhailis. 1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida v. v. 23 And there they flie or die, like scaling sculls, Before the belching Whale. 1707 tr. P. Le Lorrain de Vallemont Curiosities in Husbandry & Gardening 140 Steep your Corn, or any other Seed, in Oil of Whale. 1769 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. (new ed.) III. iv. 35 Whales are still seen one hundred and sixty feet long. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVII. 272/2 The Toothed Whales are subdivided into those which have teeth in both jaws and those which have teeth in the lower jaw. 1860 P. H. Gosse Romance Nat. Hist. x. 259 The pursuit of the whale, whether that species which our hardy mariners seek amidst the ice-floes of the Polar Seas, or the still huger kind which wallows in the boundless Pacific. collective singular.1637 I. Jones & W. Davenant Britannia Triumphans 15 And then on Rock he [sc. the giant] stood to bob for Whale.1845 J. Coulter Adventures Pacific vii. 78 While cruising for whale, the look-outs are on the cross trees. 2. Applied to the ‘great fish’ which swallowed Jonah ( Jonah i. 17). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > fish > unspecified types > [noun] whalec950 tumbrelc1300 sprout1340 squame1393 codmop1466 whitefish1482 lineshark?a1500 salen1508 glaucus1509 bretcock1522 warcodling1525 razor1530 bassinatc1540 goldeney1542 smy1552 maiden1555 grail1587 whiting1587 needle1589 pintle-fish1591 goldfish1598 puffin fish1598 quap1598 stork1600 black-tail1601 ellops1601 fork-fish1601 sea-grape1601 sea-lizard1601 sea-raven1601 barne1602 plosher1602 whale-mouse1607 bowman1610 catfish1620 hog1620 kettle-fish1630 sharpa1636 carda1641 housewifea1641 roucotea1641 ox-fisha1642 sea-serpent1646 croaker1651 alderling1655 butkin1655 shamefish1655 yard1655 sea-dart1664 sea-pelican1664 Negro1666 sea-parrot1666 sea-blewling1668 sea-stickling1668 skull-fish1668 whale's guide1668 sennet1671 barracuda1678 skate-bread1681 tuck-fish1681 swallowtail1683 piaba1686 pit-fish1686 sand-creeper1686 horned hog1702 soldier1704 sea-crowa1717 bran1720 grunter1726 calcops1727 bennet1731 bonefish1734 Negro fish1735 isinglass-fish1740 orb1740 gollin1747 smelt1776 night-walker1777 water monarch1785 hardhead1792 macaw-fish1792 yellowback1796 sea-raven1797 blueback1812 stumpnose1831 flat1847 butterfish1849 croppie1856 gubbahawn1857 silt1863 silt-snapper1863 mullet-head1866 sailor1883 hogback1893 skipper1898 stocker1904 c950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xii. 40 Suæ forðon wæs ionas in innað vel in wom huales ðrim dagum & ðrim næhtum. 1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) As Jonas was in the womb of a whall three days and three niȝtis.] c1400 (?c1380) Patience l. 247 Now is ionas þe Iwe iugged to drowne;..A wylde walterande whal..bi þat bot flotte. ?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) l. 572 Grete god..Þat saued þe prophete with in þe whall. 1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Acts ii. f. 22–28 Euen as did y^e whale reuomit the prophet Ionas. a1586 A. Montgomerie Misc. Poems xxxi. 35 Ionas, in þe quhellis bellie, þow safit thre dayis. 1687 A. Lovell tr. J. de Thévenot Trav. into Levant i. 41 Jona's Whale is also to go to Paradise. †3. whale of the river, river-whale: = sheat-fish n. a large freshwater fish, Silurus glanis. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > order Siluriformes (catfish) > [noun] > family Siluridae > genus Silurus (sheat-fish) whale of the river1585 sheat-fish1589 river-whale1601 Silurus1601 sheath-fish1602 nimble-taila1661 shoat-fish1705 wels1880 1585 J. Higgins tr. Junius Nomenclator 69/2 Silurus,..a fish much like a Sturgeon: a sheathfishe; a whale of the riuer. 1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Silure, the rauening sheat fish, or Whall of the riuer. 4. transferred (from sense 1). An object resembling a whale; Astronomy (with capital initial) the constellation Cetus. ΘΚΠ the world > the universe > constellation > Southern constellations > [noun] > Cetus whale1556 whale's back1573 whale's belly1573 whale's tail1573 the world > the earth > land > land mass > reef > sandbank > [noun] sand-ridgec1000 hurst1398 shelp1430 sand1495 ayre1539 bar1587 knock1587 sandbank1589 middle ground1653 middle1702 overslaugh1755 sandbar1767 sea-bank1828 tow-head1829 wharf1867 whale1905 horse1926 1556 R. Record Castle of Knowl. 267 The greate Whale, contayning 22 starres. 1665 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 1 5 In the evening of that day it [sc. a comet] was to come into the jaw of the Whale. 1760 Ann. Reg., Chron. 66/1 The comet..passed..toward the whale's jaw. 1867 W. Lockyer & J. N. Lockyer tr. A. Guillemin Heavens (ed. 2) ii. i. viii. 356 Among the single stars of reddish tint, we may quote..a star in the Whale, the famous Mira Ceti. 1905 F. M. Crawford Glean. Venet. Hist. I. 5 When the first fugitives, blind with terror, stumbled ashore upon the back of one of the sand whales in the lagoon. 5. Allusive, proverbial, transferred, and figurative uses of sense 1. a. Prov. phr. (to throw out) a tub to the whale: see tub n.¹ 9b very like a whale (after Shakespeare Hamlet iii. ii. 398): see quot. 1859. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > improbability, unlikeliness > [adjective] > extremely very like a whale1859 the mind > mental capacity > expectation > feeling of wonder, astonishment > quality of inspiring wonder > [adjective] > with quality of strangeness selcouthc888 uncouthc900 sellya1000 ferly?c1225 strangec1374 nicec1395 ferlifula1400 monsterfulc1460 portentous1553 miraculous1569 vengible1594 strangefula1618 phenomenous1743 phenomenala1850 very like a whale1859 weird and wonderful1859 fourth-dimensional1902 out of this world1941 unreal1965 1591 Troublesome Raigne Iohn i. sig. D The marriner, Spying the hugie Whale, whose monstrous bulke Doth beare the waues like mountaines fore the winde, That throwes out emptie vessells, so to stay His furie.] 1859 J. C. Hotten Dict. Slang 115 Very like a whale, said of anything that is very improbable. b. allusively. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > taking > seizing > [noun] > unscrupulous or rapacious scamblingc1538 whale1606 game of grab1883 the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > [noun] > devouring (of fire, etc.) > that which devours (of fire, insects, etc.) > one who or that which consumes time, money, etc. consumerc1425 gulf1538 locust1545 moth1577 depastor1583 whale1606 consumptive1739 society > authority > rule or government > oppression > [noun] > domineering or overbearing > domineering person termagant1508 overdog1908 whale1914 bossy-boots1983 1606 T. Dekker Seuen Deadly Sinnes London i. sig. C1 Be wise therefore,..play with these Whales of the Sea, till you escape them that are deuourers of your Merchants. a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) iv. iii. 225 A..lasciuious boy, who is a whale to Virginity, and deuours vp all the fry it finds. View more context for this quotation 1914 Marriott in Edinb. Rev. July 1 Amid a shoal of minnows they promptly pose as authoritative whales. c. figurative phrase a whale on…, having a great capacity or appetite for…, very good at or keen on... a whale of (originally U.S.): ‘no end of’. colloquial. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > ability > skill or skilfulness > [adjective] > at something spec. goodeOE great1552 singular1606 hot1845 a whale on1893 smoking1934 tasty1974 the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > strong or eager desire > [phrase] a whale on1893 the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > excellence > [phrase] not to be the rose but to be near it1818 a whale of1913 a snip of a1932 the best (or greatest, etc.) thing since sliced bread1958 1893 J. H. McCarthy Red Diamonds xxiii He was not, as he put it himself graphically, a whale on geography. 1899 A. Marshall Peter Binney xvi. 326 I should be a whale on parental authority myself if I were in your place. 1913 19th Cent. Sept. 621 [They] had what the Americans call ‘a whale of a good time’. 1921 Chambers's Jrnl. May 308/1 He had come here to have one whale of a time. 1938 G. Heyer Blunt Instrument iii. 45 It doesn't look such a whale of a case to me. 1954 J. B. Priestley Magicians i. 15 An equally dashing, whale-of-a-fellow, R.A.F. type. 1963 N. Marsh Dead Water (1964) i. 22 She's having a whale of a time with Mr. Joyce. 1980 B. Castle Castle Diaries 363 They regaled us with drinks and a superb buffet and we had a whale of a time. Compounds C1. With defining words for various species: e.g. black whale n. at black adj. and n. Compounds 1e(c), bottlenose n. 3, ca'ing-whale n., fin-whale n., fin-backed whale at fin n.¹ Compounds 2, finner n., Greenland whale n. at Greenland n. 1, grey whale n. at grey adj. and n. Compounds 1c(b), humpback whale n. at humpback adj., ice whale n. at ice n. Compounds 8, pike whale n. at pike n.¹ Compounds, piked whale n., pike-headed whale n. at pike-headed adj.¹, pilot whale n. at pilot n. and adj. Compounds 2, right whale n., round-lipped whale (round-lipped adj. at round adj. Compounds 1a), scrag-whale n. at scrag n.¹ 5, spermaceti whale n. at spermaceti n. 2, sperm whale n., whalebone-whale n. at whalebone n. Compounds 2, white whale n. at white adj. and n. Compounds 1f. beaked whale n. (see quots.). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > suborder Odontoceti > [noun] > family Ziphiidae > other types of beaked whale1755 Sowerby's whale1920 1755 A. Berthelson tr. E. Pontoppidan Nat. Hist. Norway ii. 123 I shall call it Balæna rostrata, or Nebbe-hval, the Beaked Whale. 1920 Brit. Mus. Return 89 Cuvier's Beaked Whale (Ziphius cavirostris). bowhead whale n. (see quot.). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > suborder Mystacoceti > [noun] > family Balaenidae (right whale) > genus Balaena (bowhead) steeple-topc1440 Greenland whale1648 right whale1726 north-caper1731 nordcaper1762 mysticete1797 icebreaker1869 poggy1871 bowhead whale1883 bay whale1947 1883 Official Catal. Internat. Fisheries Exhib. (ed. 4) 201 Slabs of whalebone of Bowhead Whale. Sowerby's whale n. (see quot.). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > suborder Odontoceti > [noun] > family Ziphiidae > other types of beaked whale1755 Sowerby's whale1920 1920 Brit. Mus. Return 101 Tooth of a Sowerby's Whale (Mesoplodon bidens). C2. a. General attributive. (a) whale blubber n. [blubber n.¹ 4] ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > other animal raw materials > [noun] > whale-blubber blubber1665 bacon1712 whale blubber1844 the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > [noun] > large member of (whale) > parts of > blubber or flesh fritters1631 speck1743 flench-gut1808 fenks1820 kent1820 whale blubber1844 plum pudding1851 rind1870 1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm II. 646 Whale-blubber..forms a good compost for turnips. 1845 C. Darwin Jrnl. (ed. 2) x. 214 A..piece of putrid whales-blubber. whale-butt n. ΚΠ 1835 J. Batman Jrnl. in K. Cornwallis Panorama New World (1859) I. App. i. 369 The ‘Belinda’, of Sydney, with a cargo of whale-butts. whale-calf n. [calf n.¹ 3] ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > [noun] > large member of (whale) > young suckerc1384 calfa1398 cub1600 short-head1726 stunt1726 calf-whale1829 whale-calf1867 whale-cub1885 1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Whale-calf, the young whale. whale-catching n. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > [noun] whale-fishing1582 whale-hunting1615 whale-killing1625 whalery1683 whale-catching1685 whaling1704 whale-fishery1820 whale-striking1821 sperm-whaling1851 1685 R. Turner in W. Penn Furth. Acc. Pennsylv. 13 Three Companies for Whale catching. whale-cry n. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > [noun] > cry on sighting of whale whale-cry1851 1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick liv. 269 The ancient whale-cry upon first sighting a whale from the mast-head. whale-cub n. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > [noun] > large member of (whale) > young suckerc1384 calfa1398 cub1600 short-head1726 stunt1726 calf-whale1829 whale-calf1867 whale-cub1885 1885 J. G. Wood in Longman's Mag. Mar. 552 The whale-cub, when first formed, has no baleen. whale-cutter n. ΚΠ 1631 E. Pellham Gods Power sig. A4^v Thomas Ayers, Whale-cutter. whale-drive n. [drive n. 2] whale-duty n. ΚΠ 1668 W. Prynne Aurum Reginæ 127 This Whale Duty hath been totally suspended..from the death of King Henry the 8, till the first year of King James, for want of a Queen Consort. whale-ground n. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > [noun] > whaling-ground whale-fishery1705 whale-ground1851 whale-hole1897 1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick lxxxi. 390 However curious it may seem for an oil-ship to be borrowing oil on the whale-ground. whale-guts n. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > other animal raw materials > [noun] > gut > types of catgut1599 whale-guts1780 silkworm gut1833 gut1834 whipcord1880 1780 W. Coxe Acct. Russ. Discov. 256 Cloaks,..made of thin whale guts. whale-hole n. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > [noun] > whaling-ground whale-fishery1705 whale-ground1851 whale-hole1897 1897 R. Kipling Captains Courageous v, in McClure's Mag. Jan. 230/2 ‘Whale-hole.’.. He had led them to the edge of the barren Whale-Deep, the blank hole of the Grand Bank. whale-hunt n. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > [noun] > whale-hunt whale-hunt1851 1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick cv. 512 The far different nature of the whale-hunt. whale-hunter n. (cf. Old English hwælhunta). ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > whale-hunter > [noun] whale-hunter1598 whale-killer1613 whale-striker1613 whaler1684 whaleman1704 whalefisherman1724 whale-fisher1773 sperm-whaler1834 whalermana1894 1598 in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (new ed.) I. 4 He was come as far towards the North, as commonly the whale hunters vse to trauell. 1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick xvi. 82 Some of these same Quakers are the most sanguinary of all sailors and whale-hunters. whale-hunting n. (cf. Old English hwælhuntaþ). ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > [noun] whale-fishing1582 whale-hunting1615 whale-killing1625 whalery1683 whale-catching1685 whaling1704 whale-fishery1820 whale-striking1821 sperm-whaling1851 1615 Trade's Incr. 52 The Greenland company, out of the pretence of their first Whale-hunting. 1868 D. Gorrie Summers & Winters in Orkneys viii. 323 The whale-hunting fleet. whale-killer n. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > whale-hunter > [noun] whale-hunter1598 whale-killer1613 whale-striker1613 whaler1684 whaleman1704 whalefisherman1724 whale-fisher1773 sperm-whaler1834 whalermana1894 1613 Voy. Spitzbergen in Archaeologia Americana (1860) 4 305 When he enters into the sounds, our whal-killers doe presentlie sallie forth to meet him. whale-killing n. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > [noun] whale-fishing1582 whale-hunting1615 whale-killing1625 whalery1683 whale-catching1685 whaling1704 whale-fishery1820 whale-striking1821 sperm-whaling1851 1625 S. Purchas Pilgrimes III. iii. 461 The first setled, ordinary, and orderly Voyages for the Whale killing. 1703 W. Dampier Voy. New Holland ii. 57 About Christmas these are mostly imployed in Whale-killing. whale-kind n. ΚΠ 1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) at Manati A Fish of the Whale-kind that breeds about the Island of Hispaniola. whale-meat n. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > seafood > [noun] > flesh of cetaceans grapeys1324 sea-beef1672 whale-meat1875 1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2761/1 Time has passed since the people of England reveled in whale meat. whale-spout n. ΚΠ 1836 Uncle Philip's Conversat. Whale Fishery 349 They heard whale-spouts near them. whale-steak n. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > seafood > [noun] > flesh of cetaceans > parts or cuts Bible-leaf1851 whale-steak1851 muktuk1880 1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick lxiv. 328 Don't I always say that to be good, a whale-steak must be tough? 1969 Listener 14 Aug. 206/3 What did we eat? Well, we ate whale-steak for one thing. whale-striker n. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > whale-hunter > [noun] whale-hunter1598 whale-killer1613 whale-striker1613 whaler1684 whaleman1704 whalefisherman1724 whale-fisher1773 sperm-whaler1834 whalermana1894 1613 Voy. Spitzbergen in Archaeologia Americana (1860) 4 289 Then the Basks, our whale-strikers, went presentlie back againe to the Foreland w^th their shallops. whale-striking n. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > [noun] whale-fishing1582 whale-hunting1615 whale-killing1625 whalery1683 whale-catching1685 whaling1704 whale-fishery1820 whale-striking1821 sperm-whaling1851 1821 W. Scott Pirate II. vii. 166 No whale-striking, bird-nesting favourite for me. whale-trade n. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > specific types of trade > [noun] > trade in other specific articles pig market1647 lumber-trade1689 oilery1830 whale-trade1840 shoe-trade1850 nitrate trade1871 cannabusiness1980 1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast v. 42 He had been forty years in the whale trade. whale-vessel n. ΚΠ 1831 W. Scott Pirate (new ed.) II. xviii. 302 A garland of faded ribbons, such as are used to decorate whale-vessels. (b) In names of weapons, etc. used in hunting whales. whale-gun n. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > whaling equipment > [noun] > gun harpoon-gun1820 whale-gun1858 1858 Mercantile Marine Mag. 5 149 The crew.. murdered the Captain and third officer by shooting them with a whale-gun. whale-lance n. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > whaling equipment > [noun] > lance or pole lancet1753 whale-lance1823 waif-pole1839 whale-pike1851 whale-pole1851 gun-lance1883 1823 W. Scoresby Jrnl. Voy. Northern Whale-fishery 112 Armed only with a whale-lance, he..set out on his adventurous exploit. whale-line n. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > whaling equipment > [noun] > rope or line whale-line1785 whale-pole1851 1785 Act 25 Geo. III c. 56 §2 Short Chucking, Half Clean, Whale-line, or other Toppings. 1897 F. T. Bullen Cruise ‘Cachalot’ 12 The whale-line, manilla rope like yellow silk, 1½ inch round, was brought on deck. whale-net n. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > whaling equipment > [noun] > net whale-net1853 1853 E. K. Kane U.S. Grinnell Exped. xlvi. 426 Stalwart fellows, practiced in the kayack, and the sledge, and the whale-net. whale-pike n. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > whaling equipment > [noun] > lance or pole lancet1753 whale-lance1823 waif-pole1839 whale-pike1851 whale-pole1851 gun-lance1883 1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick liv. 280 The valiant Captain danced up and down with a whale-pike. whale-pole n. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > whaling equipment > [noun] > lance or pole lancet1753 whale-lance1823 waif-pole1839 whale-pike1851 whale-pole1851 gun-lance1883 society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > whaling equipment > [noun] > rope or line whale-line1785 whale-pole1851 1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick lvi. 300 The flag of capture lazily hanging from the whale-pole inserted into his spout-hole. whale-rope n. ΚΠ 1849 H. Melville Redburn xx. 127 Coiled away in a tub like a whale-rope. 1857 in G. O. Trevelyan Competition Wallah (1866) 342 A coil of whale rope. whale-spade n. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > cutting up whale or seal > [noun] > knife or hook blubber-spade1820 spade1820 strand knife1820 tail-knife1820 blubber-hook1835 whale-spade1852 mincing knifea1884 1852 G. C. Mundy Our Antipodes II. iii. 51 The harpoon, the axe, the lance, and the whale-spade. (c) whale-blue adj. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > colour > named colours > blue or blueness > [adjective] > other blues mourning1709 Prussian blue1753 water blue1851 beryl-blue1881 Wedgwood1900 scale-blue1906 Nattier blue1912 whale-blue1946 1946 D. Thomas Deaths & Entrances 55 The coast Blackened with birds took a last look At his thrashing hair and whale-blue eye. whale-like adj. ΚΠ 1608 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. (new ed.) ii. iv. 109 This mighty Fish, of Whale-like hugines. 1855 J. R. Leifchild Cornwall: Mines & Miners 166 The large whale-like back of a prostrate pillar. whale-mouthed adj. ΘΚΠ the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > mouth > [adjective] > types of round-mouthed?1473 shevel?1507 tut-mouthed?a1513 wry-mouthed1552 pouch-mouth1565 plaice-moutha1569 out-lipped1570 pouch-mouthed?a1592 flap-mouthed1594 wide-mouthed1594 plaice-mouthed1595 big-mouthed1602 sparrow-mouthed1611 stretch-moutheda1616 splay-mouthed1647 wry-mouth1652 whale-mouthed1656 out-mouthed1698 spout-mouthed?1711 mickle-mouthed1720 sheveling-gabbit1725 mickle-mouth1863 tenible1871 primped1935 the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > an opening or aperture > [adjective] > having (a) hole(s) > having (spec. type of) mouth narrow-mouthed1563 large-mouthed1576 bell-mouthed1797 whale-mouthed1952 1656 F. Osborne Advice to Son (ed. 4) To Rdr. As I did then, in imitation of Sea-men by designe, so I may perhaps now cast out some empty stuffe, to find play for the Whale-mouth'd gapers after Levity. 1952 L. MacNeice Ten Burnt Offerings ii. 23 The whale-mouthed arch the bones of the future. whale-shaped adj. ΘΚΠ the world > space > shape > curvature > curved three-dimensional shape or body > cylinder > [adjective] > of other cylindrical shapes caked1686 tuberose1704 cucumiform1826 sausage-like1852 bolt1859 cigar-shaped1887 torpedo-shaped1903 sausagey1921 whale-shaped1930 Zeppelinistic1930 top hat1958 1930 Times Educ. Suppl. 25 Oct. p. iv/1 In the whale-shaped head is a window for the driver. 1978 M. Puzo Fools Die ii. 16 White-dotted red square dice were dazzling flying fish over the whale-shaped crap tables. whale-spoilt adj. whale-tailed adj. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > [adjective] > of or like a whale > having tail whale-tailed1781 1781 T. Pennant Hist. Quadrupeds II. 537 Whale-tailed Manati. b. Special combinations. Also whaleback n., whale-bird n., whale-boat n., whalebone n., whale-fin n., etc. whale-acorn-shell n. (see quot.). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > subclass Entomostraca > order Cirripedia > suborder Thoracica > member of family Balanidae balanus1728 acorn1737 sea-acorn1755 acorn shell1763 whale-acorn-shell1815 acorn barnacle1835 balanid1835 balanoid1869 1815 E. J. Burrow Elements Conchol. 194 Balanoides, Small, striated Acorn S[hell]. Diadema, Whale Do. whale-barnacle n. = coronule n. 2. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > subclass Entomostraca > order Cirripedia > suborder Thoracica > member of genus Coronula coronule1835 whale-barnacle1854 1854 A. Adams et al. Man. Nat. Hist. 305 Whale-Barnacles (Coronulidæ). whale-brit n. [brit n.¹] = whale food n. whale-deep n. = whale-hole n. at Compounds 2a(a). ΚΠ 1897 R. Kipling Captains Courageous v, in McClure's Mag. Jan. 230/2 He had led them to the edge of the barren Whale-Deep, the blank hole of the Grand Bank. whale-feed n. = whale food n. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Mollusca > [noun] > mollusc or shell-fish shellfishc888 oyster1419 cochle?1527 shale-fish1596 scale-fish1601 shell1751 ox-heart1753 mollusc1783 molluscum1832 molluscan1835 polybranchian1839 coquillage1851 whale-feed1853 siphonate1877 scungille1953 1853 Househ. Words VI. 402/1 The little red creatures (‘whale feed’, sailors call them) are retained by the fringe [of the baleen]. whale food n. (also whale's food) [translating German Walfischaas (1747)] a general name for the small animals upon which whales feed; spec. a mollusc, Clio borealis. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Mollusca > [noun] > class Pteropoda > Clio borealis whale food1767 Clio1835 1767 tr. D. Cranz Hist. Greenland I. 109 This whale's-food is found in the greatest quantity between Spitzberg..and Greenland. 1865 P. H. Gosse Land & Sea 166 The immense aggregations of close~packed swimming invertebrata so well known to mariners in Arctic regions under the appellation of ‘whale-food’. whale-foots n. [foot n. 18] the refuse in refining whale oil, used by soap-makers and tanners. whale-gull n. the ivory gull (gull n.¹). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > order Charadriiformes > family Laridae (gulls and terns) > [noun] > member of genus Larus (gull) > larus eburnea (ivory gull) whale-bird1771 snow-bird1802 senator1852 whale-gull1852 ivory gull1885 1852 W. Macgillivray Hist. Brit. Birds V. 508 Cetosparactes eburneus. The Ivory Whale-gull. whale-head n. the shoebill or whale-headed stork, Balæniceps rex; also called whale-headed stork n. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > freshwater birds > order Ciconiiformes (storks, etc.) > [noun] > family Balaenicipitidae (shoe-bill) shoe-bill1861 shoe-bird1861 shoe-beak1869 whale-headed stork1875 whale-head1884 1884 E. Coues Key to N. Amer. Birds (ed. 2) 654 Balæniceps rex, the Shoe-bill or Whale-head, of Africa. whale-headed stork n. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > freshwater birds > order Ciconiiformes (storks, etc.) > [noun] > family Balaenicipitidae (shoe-bill) shoe-bill1861 shoe-bird1861 shoe-beak1869 whale-headed stork1875 whale-head1884 1875 Encycl. Brit. III. 759/1 The gigantic Whale-headed Stork, Balæniceps rex. † whale-horn n. Obsolete whalebone. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > suborder Mystacoceti > [noun] > member of > whalebone and surrounding parts whale-horn1562 whalebone1604 whale-fin1612 blade1803 whalebone-hair1820 society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > bone or horn > [noun] > bone > whalebone baleenc1325 whale-horn1562 whalebone1604 fin1634 1562 in Inv. Mary Q. Scots (Bannatyne Club) Pref. p. xxviii (note) xij bowtis of quhaill horne. whale-laid adj. of a rope (see quot.). ΘΚΠ the world > space > shape > curvature > coil > [adjective] > disposed in or forming (a) coil(s) > of rope in specific manner whale-laid1812 society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > other manufactured or derived materials > [adjective] > made of rope or cord > types of twine1513 twice-laid1592 basten1677 cable-laid1723 hawser-laid1769 water-laid1795 registered1800 shroud-laid1800 whale-laid1812 strap-laid1839 four-strand1867 locked-coil1885 trifilar1903 1812 G. W. Manby Ess. Preserv. Shipwr. Persons 17 It may likewise be coiled in the manner used in the whale fishery. Whale laid. whale-louse n. a small crustacean of the genus Cyamus, parasitic on whales. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > subclass Malacostraca > division Arthostraca > order Amphipoda > suborder Caprellidea > member of genus Cyamus whale-louse1774 1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VI. 203 A small animal, of the shell-fish kind, called the Whale-louse, that sticks to its body. 1916 R. C. Andrews Whale Hunting with Gun & Camera xxi. 248 This growth [on the snout of the right whale] is produced by whale lice. 1952 J. Fisher Fulmar xviii. 423 He writes of the fulmars ‘searching out’ whale-lice. 1972 National Geographic Oct. 579 (caption) Communities of whale lice..some of them half an inch long, cling to the growths [on the head of each right whale]. whale-master n. the captain of a whaling-boat. ΚΠ 1924 Chambers's Jrnl. Feb. 95/2 I dine with the whale-masters and officers. whale-mouse n. = whale's guide n. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > fish > unspecified types > [noun] whalec950 tumbrelc1300 sprout1340 squame1393 codmop1466 whitefish1482 lineshark?a1500 salen1508 glaucus1509 bretcock1522 warcodling1525 razor1530 bassinatc1540 goldeney1542 smy1552 maiden1555 grail1587 whiting1587 needle1589 pintle-fish1591 goldfish1598 puffin fish1598 quap1598 stork1600 black-tail1601 ellops1601 fork-fish1601 sea-grape1601 sea-lizard1601 sea-raven1601 barne1602 plosher1602 whale-mouse1607 bowman1610 catfish1620 hog1620 kettle-fish1630 sharpa1636 carda1641 housewifea1641 roucotea1641 ox-fisha1642 sea-serpent1646 croaker1651 alderling1655 butkin1655 shamefish1655 yard1655 sea-dart1664 sea-pelican1664 Negro1666 sea-parrot1666 sea-blewling1668 sea-stickling1668 skull-fish1668 whale's guide1668 sennet1671 barracuda1678 skate-bread1681 tuck-fish1681 swallowtail1683 piaba1686 pit-fish1686 sand-creeper1686 horned hog1702 soldier1704 sea-crowa1717 bran1720 grunter1726 calcops1727 bennet1731 bonefish1734 Negro fish1735 isinglass-fish1740 orb1740 gollin1747 smelt1776 night-walker1777 water monarch1785 hardhead1792 macaw-fish1792 yellowback1796 sea-raven1797 blueback1812 stumpnose1831 flat1847 butterfish1849 croppie1856 gubbahawn1857 silt1863 silt-snapper1863 mullet-head1866 sailor1883 hogback1893 skipper1898 stocker1904 the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > suborder Mystacoceti > [noun] > member of whale-mouse1607 skull-fish1668 whale's guide1668 bonefish1734 mysticete1797 baleen whale1874 mystacocete1883 1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 504 A little fishe called..in Greeke Mystocetos, the Whale-mouse. whale-pool n. humorous the Atlantic ocean (cf. herring-pond n.). ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > water > sea or ocean > specific seas > [noun] > Atlantic Ocean Atlantica1387 Western Ocean1576 pond1612 Great Lake1684 mid-Atlantic1804 millpond1813 Middle Atlantic1826 puddle1869 whale-poola1876 a1876 M. Collins Pen Sketches (1879) II. 145 This is one of the good turns for which I am grateful to our friends across the whale-pool. whale's back n. a star in the constellation Cetus (see 4). ΘΚΠ the world > the universe > constellation > Southern constellations > [noun] > Cetus whale1556 whale's back1573 whale's belly1573 whale's tail1573 1573 W. Bourne Regim. for Sea (1580) 59 b The names of the Starres..Whales backe. Whales belly... Whales tayle. whale's belly n. see whale's back n. ΘΚΠ the world > the universe > constellation > Southern constellations > [noun] > Cetus whale1556 whale's back1573 whale's belly1573 whale's tail1573 1573 [see whale's back n.]. † whale's guide n. Obsolete the animal called by Pliny musculus piscis (cf. note s.v. mysticete n.¹). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > fish > unspecified types > [noun] whalec950 tumbrelc1300 sprout1340 squame1393 codmop1466 whitefish1482 lineshark?a1500 salen1508 glaucus1509 bretcock1522 warcodling1525 razor1530 bassinatc1540 goldeney1542 smy1552 maiden1555 grail1587 whiting1587 needle1589 pintle-fish1591 goldfish1598 puffin fish1598 quap1598 stork1600 black-tail1601 ellops1601 fork-fish1601 sea-grape1601 sea-lizard1601 sea-raven1601 barne1602 plosher1602 whale-mouse1607 bowman1610 catfish1620 hog1620 kettle-fish1630 sharpa1636 carda1641 housewifea1641 roucotea1641 ox-fisha1642 sea-serpent1646 croaker1651 alderling1655 butkin1655 shamefish1655 yard1655 sea-dart1664 sea-pelican1664 Negro1666 sea-parrot1666 sea-blewling1668 sea-stickling1668 skull-fish1668 whale's guide1668 sennet1671 barracuda1678 skate-bread1681 tuck-fish1681 swallowtail1683 piaba1686 pit-fish1686 sand-creeper1686 horned hog1702 soldier1704 sea-crowa1717 bran1720 grunter1726 calcops1727 bennet1731 bonefish1734 Negro fish1735 isinglass-fish1740 orb1740 gollin1747 smelt1776 night-walker1777 water monarch1785 hardhead1792 macaw-fish1792 yellowback1796 sea-raven1797 blueback1812 stumpnose1831 flat1847 butterfish1849 croppie1856 gubbahawn1857 silt1863 silt-snapper1863 mullet-head1866 sailor1883 hogback1893 skipper1898 stocker1904 the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > suborder Mystacoceti > [noun] > member of whale-mouse1607 skull-fish1668 whale's guide1668 bonefish1734 mysticete1797 baleen whale1874 mystacocete1883 1668 W. Charleton Onomasticon Zoicon 125 Cetorum Dux..the Whales Guide. 1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) at Mysticetus A Fish, call'd the Whale's Guide. whale-shark n. (a) a very large shark, Rhinodon typicus; (b) the basking-shark (basking adj. 2). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > fish > subclass Elasmobranchii > order Pleurotremata > [noun] > member of family Rhinodontidae rhinodon1850 rhinodont1859 whale-shark1884 1884–5 Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888) III. 78 The Rhinodontidæ embraces only two species of large sharks, one of which well deserves the name whale-shark, which is applied to it. whale-ship n. = whale-boat n. ΘΚΠ society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > fishing vessel > [noun] > whaling vessel Greenlandman1659 whale-boat1682 whalefisherman1724 whaleman1767 whaler1806 spouter1815 whale-ship1820 catcher1829 sperm-whaler1834 blubber-boiler1851 plum-puddinger1851 five-boater1887 bay whaler1905 1820 W. Scoresby Acct. Arctic Regions II. 199 The crew of a whale-ship usually consists of 40 to 50 men. † whale-shot n. [shot n.¹ 19] Obsolete spermaceti. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > [noun] > large member of (whale) > parts of > spermaceti or oil spermaceti1471 whale-shot1612 amber1663 sperm oil1839 shot1914 1612 Bk. Customs & Valuation in A. Halyburton Ledger (1867) 332 Whale shote the barrell, xx li. whale's tail n. see whale's back n. ΘΚΠ the world > the universe > constellation > Southern constellations > [noun] > Cetus whale1556 whale's back1573 whale's belly1573 whale's tail1573 1573 [see whale's back n.]. Draft additions 1993 plural. Anchovies on toast. School slang and University slang (now historical). ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > bread > bread with spread or filling > [noun] > bread with seafood oyster loafeOE oyster bread1601 anchovy toast1769 whales1890 1890 A. Barrère & C. G. Leland Dict. Slang II. 407 Whale (Cheltenham College). Codfish, sardines, are called whales at the Royal Military Academy. (Common), anchovies on toast. 1926 M. R. James Eton & King's xxiii. 243 Dishes of whales (anchovy toast) in the fender. 1983 M. Cox M. R. James vi. 57 They were held at 9.45–10 p.m. on Saturdays at the rooms of the reader of the paper, who provided coffee, a cup, and whales (anchovy toast). Draft additions September 2007 whale watch n. an instance of whale watching; an excursion for this purpose. ΚΠ 1955 Bennington (Vermont) Evening Banner 16 Mar. 3/4 Ken Norris..and his staff of 12 keep a daylight whale watch to count the schools of California Gray whales that head south to spawn off the coast of Mexico. 1964 Independent Star-News (Pasadena, Calif.) 29 Nov. a2/1 Pierpoint Landing..has scheduled ‘whale watch’ cruises every winter for the past seven years. 2004 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 25 July xv. 8/4 Boston Harbor Cruises runs five whale watches a day. Draft additions September 2007 whale watcher n. a person who engages in whale watching. ΚΠ 1955 Fresno (Calif.) Bee Republican 23 Jan. 11 a You have heard of bird watchers but did you ever hear of a whale watcher? 2003 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 13 July 27/1 Whale watchers keen to see the albino humpback migrating north along the Queensland coast will have to keep their distance, or risk being fined $12,000. Draft additions September 2007 whale watching n. the observation of surfacing whales, esp. as a commercial activity in which tourists are taken by boat or air to an appropriate area of water. ΚΠ 1955 Fresno (Calif.) Bee Republican 23 Jan. 11 a (heading) Whale watching popularity is increasing in Southland. 2004 Nature 29 Apr. p. vii/2 ‘Whale watching’ is a growing leisure activity in the coastal waters of Washington state. Draft additions September 2018 whale song n. sounds, resembling or suggestive of singing, made as a means of communication by certain whales, esp. humpback whales; a sequence of such sounds.In later use, often in the context of recordings of these sounds being used as a relaxation tool. ΚΠ 1819 A. Fisher Jrnl. 5 Aug. in Jrnl. Voy. Arctic Regions 1819–20 (1821) 74 The thing..is a sort of whistling noise that these fish [sc. beluga whales] made when under the surface of the water... The men..repeatedly urged one another to pull smartly, in order to get near the place..for the purpose of hearing what they called a ‘whale-song’. 1970 N.Y. Times 17 Feb. 36/2 The whale songs—the term is used by scientists for the sounds by which the creatures communicate while under water—were taken by the composer from tapes made in the Atlantic Ocean. 1986 Daily Mail 8 Apr. An engrossing programme about whales and the mysterious keening sounds they emit (the so-called whale-song) which can be picked up by other whales hundreds of miles away. 1995 Stress Factor (Reader's Digest) 41/3 Some people find that listening to the beautiful and haunting sounds of a whale song mentally transports them to the stress-free shores of the ocean. 2009 Western Morning News (Plymouth) (Nexis) 6 Mar. 9 Most spas play some kind of relaxing soundtrack while you're stretched out enjoying a massage: pan pipes, or whale song, or the shushing of waves on the shore. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1923; most recently modified version published online June 2022). whalev.¹ Brit. /weɪl/, U.S. /(h)weɪl/ Etymology: < whale n. intransitive. To engage in whale-fishing; see also whaling n.¹ ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > whaling and seal-hunting > whaling > hunt whales [verb (intransitive)] whalec1700 c1700 in Cheever's Whalem. Adv. (1850) i. 5 [To] whale out in the deep for sperm whales. 1812 Sydney Gaz. 19 Sept. 2/1 The brig Active..was at Frederick Henry Bay whaling. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1923; most recently modified version published online December 2021). whalev.² Brit. /weɪl/, U.S. /(h)weɪl/ Etymology: Of obscure origin. Commonly regarded as a spelling of wale v.¹, but there are difficulties of form, chronology, and meaning. Perhaps originally = to thrash with a whalebone whip (see whalebone n. 3b). Now U.S. colloquial. 1. transitive. To beat, flog, thrash. Also with const. ΘΚΠ society > authority > punishment > corporal punishment > administer corporal punishment [verb (transitive)] > beat threshOE beatc1000 to lay on?c1225 chastise1362 rapa1400 dressc1405 lack?c1475 paya1500 currya1529 coil1530 cuff1530 baste1533 thwack1533 lick1535 firka1566 trounce1568 fight1570 course1585 bumfeage1589 feague1589 lamback1589 lambskin1589 tickle1592 thrash1593 lam1595 bumfeagle1598 comb1600 fer1600 linge1600 taw1600 tew1600 thrum1604 feeze1612 verberate1614 fly-flap1620 tabor1624 lambaste1637 feak1652 flog1676 to tan (a person's) hide1679 slipper1682 liquora1689 curry-comb1708 whack1721 rump1735 screenge1787 whale1790 lather1797 tat1819 tease1819 larrup1823 warm1824 haze1825 to put (a person) through a course of sprouts1839 flake1841 swish1856 hide1875 triangle1879 to give (a person or thing) gyp1887 soak1892 to loosen (a person's) hide1902 1790 F. Grose Provinc. Gloss. (ed. 2) Whale, to beat with a horsewhip or pliant stick. 1801 G. Hanger Life II. 162 Whaleing a gentleman is but a vulgar revenge. 1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn iii. 30 He used to always whale me when he was sober and could get his hands on me. 1928 M. Walsh While Rivers Run vi ‘Do you like porridge?’ Aelec asked. ‘I do. I was whaled into taking it as a boy.’ 2. transferred. intransitive. To do something implied by the context continuously or vehemently. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > speech > manner of speaking > speak in a particular manner [verb (intransitive)] > speak loudly or angrily thundera1340 raisec1384 to speak outc1515 jowlc1540 fulmine1623 to talk big1680 tang1686 to speak upa1723 to go ona1753 rip1828 whalea1852 yap1864 to rip and tear1884 megaphone1901 to pop off1914 foghorn1918 to sound off1918 loudmouth1931 woof1934 the world > action or operation > manner of action > violent action or operation > be violent [verb (intransitive)] > do anything violently to cry (also sob, weep, etc.) one's heart out1732 whale1897 bulldoze1948 a1852 F. M. Whitcher Widow Bedott Papers (1883) vi. 67 You remember that one that come round a spell ago a whalin' away about human rights. 1886 Harper's Mag. July 322/1 In tones of wrath..he whaled it at his opponent throughout the fifteen minutes alloted to him. 1897 A. Barrère & C. G. Leland Dict. Slang To whale away, (Amer.), to preach, talk, or lecture away continuously or vehemently. 1908 H. Day King Spruce xxiv You don't think I've whaled up here..to..talk about women, do you? 1915 Morning Post 1 June 4/4 They..snatched these rifles up, and whaled away at our chaps. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1923; most recently modified version published online December 2021). < n.c893v.¹c1700v.²1790
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