sperm whale
Also sperm-whale.
[Short for spermaceti whale: cf. sperm n. II.]
1. The spermaceti whale, Physeter macrocephalus; = cachalot.
| 1839 T. Beale Nat. Hist. Sperm Whale 3 The sperm whale is one of the most noiseless of marine animals. 1860 Gosse Rom. Nat. Hist. 48 In the midst of this war of the elements appear a pair of sperm-whales. 1884 Goode Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim. 7 The Sperm Whale..was first described by Clusius in 1605 from specimens cast up on the coast of Holland in 1598 and 1601. |
b. Applied, with distinguishing epithets, to species of whales resembling, or related to, this.
| 1882 Cassell's Encycl. Dict. s.v. Cachalot, The Mexican Sperm-whale (Catodon Colneti). Ibid., The South Sea Sperm-whale, found..in the Southern Ocean. 1891 Cent. Dict. s.v., Porpoise sperm-whale, a pygmy sperm-whale, or snub-nosed cachalot. |
2. attrib., as sperm-whale fishery, sperm whale fishing, etc.; sperm-whale porpoise (see quot. 1884).
| 1839 T. Beale Nat. Hist. Sperm Whale 136 Rise and Progress of the Sperm Whale Fishery. 1884 Goode Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim. 18 The Sperm Whale Porpoise,..Hyperaodon bidens. 1887 ― Fisheries of U.S. 69 The next important sperm-whale ground to be discovered was the Japan Ground. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 528/1 American Fisheries..Sperm whale fishing seems to have commenced early in the 18th century. |
Hence sperm-whaler, a person or vessel engaged in the capture of sperm-whales; sperm-whaling pres. pple. and vbl. n.
| 1834 Tait's Mag. I. 411/1 The London sperm-whalers are generally large vessels. 1840 F. D. Bennett Narr. Whaling Voy. II. 202 Difficulties that oppose the Sperm-Whaler's success. 1851 Lit. Gaz. 11 Jan. 30/3 The graphic accounts of sperm-whaling, by Beale and Bennett. ? 1863 in Pall Mall G. (1895) 16 Dec. 2/1 Accidentally killed while sperm-whaling off the Brazil Banks. 1887 Goode Fisheries of U.S. 69 Sperm-whaling at New Zealand and the offshore ground. |