baleen
(bəˈliːn)
Forms; 4–6 baleyne, 4–5 balayn(e, 4–6 balene, 5 -ien, 6 ballane, ballen, 7 balæne, 8– baleen.
[ME. baleyne, -ayne, a. OF. baleine, -aine whale, whalebone:—L. balæna whale.]
† 1. A whale. Obs.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls Ser.) i. xli, Baleynes, grete fisches as hit were of whales kynde. c 1450 in Wright Voc. (W.) /704 Balena, a balene. c 1480 Caxton Ovid's Met. xii. xv, Balaynes or whales, dolphins, mermaydes..and alle other fyshes. 1572 J. Bossewell Armorie ii. 65 Balene is a fishe greate and huge. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 238 From the forehead, in the Balænes. |
2. ? The fish called Sea-bream: ‘perhaps from its supposed habit, mentioned by Pliny, of accompanying the balæna or whale’ (Riley Gloss. to Lib. Custum. 785/1).
| c 1185 Neckam in Wright Voc. 97 Musculus, baleyne. 1494 Fabyan vii. 586 For the firste course.—Brawne and mustarde. Dedellys in burneux. Frument with balien. Pyke in erbage. 1598 Stow Survey (Strype 1754) II. v. xxvi. 464/2 An hundred better Balenes of the same year salted for 16s., that is 2d. per pound. |
3. Whalebone. Also attrib. or as adj., and: baleen whale, a whalebone-whale; any member of the suborder Mysticeti; also ellipt.
(The meaning is uncertain in some early quotations.)
| c 1325 Coeur de L. 2982 Off balayn, both scheeld & targe. 1513 Douglas æneis vii. xiii. 68 A ballen [v.r. balen] pavis coueris thair left sydis. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccccxix. 734 Gantlettes of steele and baleyne. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. III. 453 Cors-bowis of ballane that war gude. 1708 J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. ii. i. iii. (1743) 331 Great whales of the Baleen, or whale bone kind. 1824 Meyrick Anc. Armour Gloss. 1836 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. 573/2 At each side of their [i.e. whales'] palate grow, transversely, horny plates, named baleen. Ibid. The base of each baleen⁓plate. 1874 Wood Nat. Hist. 142 When first born, the young whale is without the baleen. 1874 C. M. Scammon Marine Mammals vi. 66 This great northern baleen whale, in its principal proportions, resembles the Balœna mysticetus. 1878 Cassell's Nat. Hist. II. 257 Scammon says that three or four [killer-whales] do not hesitate to grapple with the largest Baleen Whales. 1958 Times 12 Nov. 11/6 There are two kinds of whale caught, the baleen and the sperm. |