▪ I. whale, n.
(hweɪl)
Forms: 1 hwæl, 3–4 whal, wal, 4–5 wall, 4–7 whall, 5 wale, 5–6 whalle, 7 whaill, wheal, 4– whale; chiefly Sc. and north. 3 qual, 4 quale, 5 qwal, qwall(e, qwaylle, 5–6 quhail(l, 6 quhale, quhell.
[OE. hwæl, corresp. to OHG., MHG. wal (G. walfisch whalefish, q.v.), ON. hvalr (Sw., Da. hval), related to OHG. wâlira, welira, MHG. wâlre, and MHG., G. wels (:—*χwalis) sheath-fish; cf. Pruss. kalis sheath-fish.
The present form whale represents oblique forms (OE. hwalas, etc.); the OE. nom. hwæl gave 14th–17th cent. whall (cf. small, awl, † all, from smæl, æl).]
1. a. 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.).
| c 893 ælfred Oros. i. i. §16 Se hwæl bið micle læssa þonne oðre hwalas. c 1000 ælfric Gen. i. 21 God ᵹesceop þa þa micelan hwalas and eall libbende fisc-cinn. c 1055 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 310 Þa myclan hwælas, & þa lytlan sprottas. c 1220 Bestiary 735 He is blac so bro of qual. c 1300 Havelok 753 He tok þe sturgiun, and þe qual. c 1325 Metr. Hom. 136 Riht als the quale fars wit the elringe, And riht als sturioun etes merling. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 1495 He hadde a bodi as a whal. c 1386 Chaucer Sompn. T. 222 Me thynketh they been lyk Iovinyan Fat as a whale and walkynge as a swan. 14.. Metr. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 625/11 Wale, cete. 14.. Nom. ibid. 704/15 Hic cetus, a whalle. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 523 Whale, or qwal, grete fysche. 1513 Douglas æneis vii. Prol. 23 Fludis monstreis, sic as meirs wyne or quhailis. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. v. v. 23 And there they flye or dye, like scaled sculs, Before the belching Whale. 1707 Curios. Husb. & Gard. 140 Steep your Corn, or any other Seed, in Oil of Whale. 1769 Pennant Brit. Zool. III. 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 Gosse Rom. 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 sing. 1637 I. Jones & Davenant Brit. Tri. 15 And then on Rock he [sc. the giant] stood to bob for Whale. 1845 Coulter Adv. Pacific vii. 78 While cruising for whale, the look-outs are on the cross trees. |
b. (
a) With defining words for various species:
e.g. bottle-nosed w.,
ca'ing-whale, fin-, finbacked,
finner,
Greenland,
grey (a. 8 b),
humpback, ice-
1, pike-,
piked, pike-headed,
pilot,
rostrated,
round-lipped (
round a. 16 b),
scrag (
n.1 5),
spermaceti w.,
sperm whale, whalebone-,
white w. Also
beaked,
black,
bowhead,
Sowerby's whale: see
quots.| 1755 tr. Pontoppidan's 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). |
| 1831 in R. McNab Old Whaling Days (1913) i. 3 The *black whales visit the bays and coasts of New Zealand for the purpose of calving. 1834 Dewhurst Cetacea 16 note, La Baleine Franche,..Common Black Whale. 1840 Marryat Poor Jack vi, The sparmacitty don't take the harpoon quite so quietly as the black whale does. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVII. 296/1 The Whalebone Whale or Black Whale of the South Seas. |
| 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. (ed. 4) 201 Slabs of whalebone of *Bowhead Whale. |
| 1920 Brit. Mus. Return 101 Tooth of a *Sowerby's Whale (Mesoplodon bidens). |
(
b)
right whale, a whalebone-whale,
esp. of the genus
Balæna. Hence
right-whaling,
right-whaler, etc.
| 1725 P. Dudley in Phil. Trans. XXXIII. 256 The Right or Whalebone Whale is a large Fish, measuring sixty or seventy Feet in Length. 1824 J. F. Cooper Pilot xvii, 'Tis a right whale,..I saw his spout. 1849 H. Melville Mardi I. i. 5 This horrid and indecent Right Whaling..is as the butchery of white bears upon blank Greenland icebergs. 1874 Darwin Desc. Man ii. xvii. (ed. 2) 516 The males of the right-whales do not fight together. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 527/2 A right whale fishery of great importance. 1895 Pall Mall Gaz. 16 Dec. 2/1 Just before I took to ‘right’ whaling. |
2. Applied to the ‘great fish’ which swallowed Jonah (
Jonah i. 17).
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xii. 40 Suæ forðon wæs ionas in innað vel in wom huales ðrim daᵹum & ðrim næhtum. [1382 Wyclif As Jonas was in the womb of a whall three days and three niȝtis.] 13.. E.E. Allit. P. C. 247 Now is ionas þe Iwe iugged to drowne;..A wylde walterande whal..bi þat bot flotte. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 572 Grete god..Þat saued þe prophete with in þe whall. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Acts ii. 22–28 Euen as did y⊇ whale reuomit the prophet Ionas. a 1586 Montgomerie Misc. Poems xxxi. 35 Ionas, in þe quhellis bellie, þow safit thre dayis. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 41 Jona's Whale is also to go to Paradise. |
† 3. whale of the river,
river-whale:
= sheat-fish1, a large freshwater fish,
Silurus glanis.
Obs.| 1585 Higins Junius' Nomencl. 69/2 Silurus,..a fish much like a Sturgeon: a sheathfishe; a whale of the riuer. 1611 Cotgr., Silure, the rauening sheat fish, or Whall of the riuer. |
4. transf. (from 1). An object resembling a whale;
Astron. (with cap.) the constellation
Cetus.
| 1551 Recorde Cast. Knowl. (1556) 267 The greate Whale, contayning 22 starres. 1664 Phil. Trans. I. 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. 1866 Lockyer Guillemin's Heavens (ed. 2) 356. 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,
transf., and
fig. uses of sense 1.
a. Prov. phr. (to throw out) a tub to the whale: see
tub n. 9 b.
very like a whale (after
Shakes. Ham. iii. ii. 398): see
quot. 1859.
| [1591 1st Pt. Troub. Raigne K. John (1611) C 3 b, The mariner, Spying the hugie Whale, whose monstrous bulke Doth beare the waues like mountaines fore the wind, That throwes out emptie vessels, so to stay His fury.] |
| 1859 Slang Dict. 115 Very like a whale, said of anything that is very improbable. |
b. allusively.
| 1601 Shakes. All's Well iv. iii. 249 A..lasciuious boy, who is a whale to Virginity, and deuours vp all the fry it finds. 1606 Dekker Seuen Deadly Sinnes Wks. (Grosart) II. 27 Be wise therefore,..play with these Whales of the Sea, till you escape them that are deuourers of your Merchants. 1914 Marriott in Edin. Rev. July 1 Amid a shoal of minnows they promptly pose as authoritative whales. |
c. fig. phr. a whale on{ddd}, having a great capacity or appetite for{ddd}, very good at or keen on...
a whale of (
orig. U.S.): ‘no end of’.
colloq.| 1893 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. |
6. a. attrib. and
Comb., as
whale-blubber [
blubber n.1 4],
whale-butt,
whale-calf [
calf1 3],
whale-catching,
whale-cry,
whale-cub,
whale-cutter,
whale-drive [
drive n. 1 c],
whale-duty,
whale-ground,
whale-guts,
whale-hole,
whale-hunt,
whale-hunter (
cf. OE. hwælhunta),
whale-hunting (
cf. OE. hwælhuntaþ),
whale-killer,
whale-killing,
whale-kind,
whale-meat,
whale-spoilt,
whale-steak,
whale-striker,
whale-striking,
whale-trade,
whale-vessel; also in names of weapons, etc. used in hunting whales, as
whale-gun,
whale-lance,
whale-line,
whale-net,
whale-pike,
whale-pole,
whale-rope,
whale-spade; also
whale-blue,
whale-like,
whale-mouthed,
whale-shaped,
whale-tailed adjs. b. Spec. Combs.:
whale-acorn-shell (see
quot.);
whale-barnacle = coronule 2;
whale-brit [
brit n.1]
= whale-food;
whale-deep = whale-hole;
whale-feed = whale-food;
whale('s) food [
tr. G.
walfischaas, 1747], a general name for the small animals upon which whales feed;
spec. a mollusc,
Clio borealis;
whale-foots [
foot n. 22], the refuse in refining whale-oil, used by soap-makers and tanners;
whale-gull, the ivory gull (
gull n.1);
whale-head, the shoebill or whale-headed stork,
Balæniceps rex; also called
whale-headed stork;
† whale-horn, whalebone;
whale-laid a. of a rope (see
quot.);
whale-louse, a small crustacean of the genus
Cyamus, parasitic on whales;
whale-mouse = whale's guide;
whale-pool humorous, the Atlantic ocean (
cf. herring-pond);
whale's belly,
-tail, etc., stars in the constellation
Cetus (see 4);
† whale's guide, the animal called by Pliny
musculus piscis (
cf. note
s.v. mysticete1);
whale-shark, (
a) a very large shark,
Rhinodon typicus; (
b) the basking-shark (
basking ppl. a. 2);
whale-ship = whale-boat;
† whale-shot [
shot n.1 19], spermaceti. Also
whaleback, -bird, -boat, -bone, -fin, etc.
| 1815 Burrow Elem. Conchol. 194 Balanoides, Small, striated Acorn S[hell]. Diadema, *Whale Do. |
| 1854 A. Adams, etc. Man. Nat. Hist. 305 *Whale-Barnacles (Coronulidæ). |
| 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 646 *Whale-blubber..forms a good compost for turnips. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. x. 214 A piece of putrid whales-blubber. |
| 1946 Dylan Thomas Deaths & Entrances 55 The coast Blackened with birds took a last look At his thrashing hair and *whale-blue eye. |
| 1835 Batman in K. Cornwallis New World (1859) I. 369 The ‘Belinda’, of Sydney, with a cargo of *whale-butts. |
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Whale-calf, the young whale. |
| 1685 R. Turner in W. Penn Furth. Acc. Pennsylv. 13 Three Companies for *Whale catching. |
| 1851 H. Melville Moby Dick II. xii. 78 The ancient *whale-cry upon first sighting a whale from the mast-head. |
| 1885 J. G. Wood in Longm. Mag. Mar. 552 The *whale-cub, when first formed, has no baleen. |
| 1631 E. Pellham Gods Power A 4 b, Thomas Ayers, *Whale-cutter. |
| 1668 Prynne Aurum Reg. 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. |
| 1853 Househ. Words VI. 402/1 The little red creatures (‘*whale feed’, sailors call them) are retained by the fringe [of the baleen]. |
| 1767 tr. Crantz' Hist. Greenland I. 109 This *whale's-food is found in the greatest quantity between Spitzberg..and Greenland. 1865 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’. |
| 1851 *Whale-ground [see oil-ship s.v. oil n.1 6 e]. |
| 1852 Macgillivray Brit. Birds V. 508 Cetosparactes eburneus. The Ivory *Whale-gull. |
| 1858 Merc. Marine Mag. V. 149 The crew.. murdered the Captain and third officer by shooting them with a *whale-gun. |
| 1780 Coxe Russ. Discov. 256 Cloaks,..made of thin *whale guts. |
| 1884 Coues Key N. Amer. Birds (ed. 2) 654 Balæniceps rex, the Shoe-bill or *Whale-head, of Africa. |
| 1875 Encycl. Brit. III. 759/1 The gigantic *Whale-headed Stork, Balæniceps rex. |
| 1897 Kipling Capt. Cour. v. 111 ‘*Whale-hole.’.. He had led them to the edge of the barren Whale-deep, the blank hole of the Grand Bank. |
| 1562 in Inv. Mary Q. Scots (Bannatyne Club) Pref. p. xxviii. note, xij bowtis of *quhaill horne. |
| 1851 H. Melville Moby Dick III. xix. 134 The far different nature of the *whale-hunt. |
| 1598 Hakluyt Voy. I. 4 He was come as far towards the North, as commonly the *whale hunters vse to trauell. 1851 H. Melville Whale xvi, Some of these same Quakers are the most sanguinary of all sailors and whale-hunters. |
| 1615 Trade's Incr. 52 The Greenland company, out of the pretence of their first *Whale-hunting. 1868 D. Gorrie Summ. & Wint. in Orkneys viii. 323 The whale-hunting fleet. |
| 1613 Voy. Spitzbergen in Archæol. Amer. (1860) IV. 305 When he enters into the sounds, our *whal-killers doe presentlie sallie forth to meet him. |
| 1625 Purchas Pilgrims III. iii. 461 The first setled, ordinary, and orderly Voyages for the *Whale killing. 1703 W. Dampier Voy. III. ii. 57 About Christmas these are mostly imployed in Whale-killing. |
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Manati, a Fish of the *Whale-kind that breeds about the Island of Hispaniola. |
| 1812 G. W. Manby Ess. Preserv. Shipwr. Persons 17 It may likewise be coiled in the manner used in the whale fishery. *Whale laid. |
| 1823 Scoresby Voy. N. Whale-fishery 112 Armed only with a *whale-lance, he..set out on his adventurous exploit. |
| 1608 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. Schisme 1016 This mighty Fish, of *Whale-like hugenesse. 1855 Leifchild Cornwall 166 The large whale-like back of a prostrate pillar. |
| 1785 Act 25 Geo. III c. 56 §2 Short Chucking, Half Clean, *Whale-line, or other Toppings. 1897 F. T. Bullen Cruise of ‘Cachalot’ 12 The whale-line, manilla rope like yellow silk, 1½ inch round, was brought on deck. |
| 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1824) III. 21 A small animal, of the shell-fish kind, called the *Whale-louse, that sticks to its body. 1916 R. C. Andrews Whale Hunting 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 Nat. 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]. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. s.v. Whalebone, Time has passed since the people of England reveled in *whale meat. |
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 504 A little fishe called..in Greeke Mystocetos, the *Whale-mouse. |
| 1656 Osborn Adv. 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. |
| 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xlvi. (1856) 426 Stalwart fellows, practiced in the kayack, and the sledge, and the *whale-net. |
| 1851 H. Melville Moby Dick II. xii. 94 The valiant Captain danced up and down with a *whale-pike. |
| Ibid. xiv. 124 The flag of capture lazily hanging from the *whale-pole inserted into his spout-hole. |
| a 1876 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. |
| 1849 H. Melville Redburn I. xx. 194 Coiled away in a tub. Like a *whale-rope. 1857 in Trevelyan Compet. Wallah (1866) 342 A coil of whale rope. |
| 1573 W. Bourne Regim. Sea (1580) 59 b, The names of the Starres..*Whales backe. Whales belly... Whales tayle. |
| 1668 Charleton Onomast. 125 Cetorum Dux..the *Whales Guide. 1706 Phillips (ed. 6), Mysticetus, a Fish, call'd the Whale's Guide. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 1820 Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. II. 199 The crew of a *whale-ship usually consists of 40 to 50 men. |
| 1612 Sc. Bk. Rates in Halyburton's Ledger (1867) 332 *Whale shote the barrell, xx li. |
| 1852 Mundy Antipodes (1857) 104 The harpoon, the axe, the lance, and the *whale-spade. |
| 1836 Uncle Philip's Convers. Whale Fishery 349 They heard *whale-spouts near them. |
| 1851 H. Melville Moby Dick II. xii. 166 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. |
| 1613 Voy. Spitzbergen in Archæol. Amer. (1860) IV. 289 Then the Basks, our *whale-strikers, went presentlie back againe to the Foreland w{supt}{suph} their shallops. |
| 1821 Scott Pirate xx, No *whale-striking, bird-nesting favourite for me. |
| 1781 Pennant Hist. Quadrup. II. 537 *Whale-tailed Manati. |
| 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast v, He had been forty years in the *whale-trade. |
| 1821 Scott Pirate xxxviii, A garland of faded ribbons, such as are used to decorate *whale-vessels. |
Add:
[5.] d. pl. Anchovies on toast.
School and
Univ. slang (now only
Hist.).
| 1890 Barrère & 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). |
▸
whale watch n. an instance of whale watching; an excursion for this purpose.
| 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. |
▸
whale watcher n. a person who engages in whale watching.
| 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. |
▸
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.
| 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. |
▪ II. whale, v.1 (
hweɪl)
[f. prec.] intr. To engage in whale-fishing; see also
whaling vbl. n.1| c 1700 in Cheever's Whalem. Adv. i. (1850) 5 [To] whale out in the deep for sperm whales. 1812 Sydney Gaz. in O'Hara's Hist. N.S. Wales (1817) 386 The brig Active..was at Frederick Henry Bay whaling. |
▪ III. whale, v.2 Now
U.S. colloq. [Of obscure origin. Commonly regarded as a spelling of wale v.1, but there are difficulties of form, chronology, and meaning. Perhaps orig. = to thrash with a whalebone whip (see whalebone 3 b).] 1. trans. To beat, flog, thrash.
| 1790 Grose Prov. 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 ‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn iii, He used to always whale me when he was sober and could get his hands on me. |
2. transf. intr. To do something implied by the context continuously or vehemently.
| a 1852 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 Barrère & 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. |
▪ IV. whale var. wale.