whale

¹ American  

[weyl, hweyl] / weɪl, ʰweɪl /

noun

• whales,
  plural
• whale
  plural

1. any of the larger marine mammals of the order Cetacea, especially as distinguished from the smaller dolphins and porpoises, having a fishlike body, forelimbs modified into flippers, and a head that is horizontally flattened.

2. Informal. something big, great, or fine of its kind.

   I had a whale of a time in Europe.

   Programming this game turned out to be a whale of a project.

3. Also called crypto whale.  an investor who holds a large amount of cryptocurrency and is therefore able to create noticeable effects on the market, as by influencing prices through large transactions or by reducing the amount of available cryptocurrency through failure to move their holdings.

   The recent accumulation of this cryptocurrency by whales may indicate that they expect it to see significant gains in the near future.

4. Astronomy. Whale, the constellation Cetus.

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verb (used without object)

whaled, whaling

1. to engage in whaling or whale fishing.

2. Digital Technology. to phish by posing as a company’s attorney, CEO, vendor, or other authorized entity in order to scam a payroll department, corporate executive, etc., out of money or confidential information.

   When she demonstrated her project, “How to Whale and Make Millions,” they didn’t know whether to award her or arrest her!

verb (used with object)

whaled, whaling

1. Digital Technology. to make (a company’s employee or department) a phishing victim by posing as an entity authorized to procure money or confidential information from the company.

   Before proving he had been whaled, the marketing VP was subjected to much scrutiny and suspicion.

whale ² American  

[hweyl, weyl] / ʰweɪl, weɪl /

verb

whaled, whaling

1. to hit, thrash, or beat soundly.

   Back then, if we misbehaved, Dad would threaten to whale us.

   We took advantage of the other team where they were weakest and whaled the stuffing out of them.

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verb phrase

1. whale (away) at / on

   1. to work vigorously and continuously at or on.

      It was cool to see this bunch of talented writers whaling away on their screenplay.

      I remember whaling at code over and over, pretty much at random, until I found something that sort of worked.

   2. to strike with furious and repeated blows.

      Satisfying as it was to whale on the punching bag, it did little to restore my emotional balance.

      In the last round, he pinned his opponent in the corner and was whaling away at him with both hands.

   3. to criticize vehemently.

      When hostile people are whaling on your ideas, it’s easy to feel humiliated and angry.

      Now all the political pundits are whaling away at the president for neglecting the military.

   4. to play (an instrument) with abandon.

      There was a jazz musician in the corner of the bar, whaling away at the piano.

      He and his band whaled on their instruments with their whole bodies—it was amazing!

whale ¹ British  

/ weɪl /

noun

1. any of the larger cetacean mammals, excluding dolphins, porpoises, and narwhals. They have flippers, a streamlined body, and a horizontally flattened tail and breathe through a blowhole on the top of the head

2. any cetacean mammal See also toothed whale whalebone whale

3. slang a gambler who has the capacity to win and lose large sums of money in a casino

4. informal an exceptionally large, fine, etc, example of a (person or thing)

   we had a whale of a time on holiday

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whale ² British  

/ weɪl /

verb

1. (tr) to beat or thrash soundly

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• whale
  plural
• whales
  plural

Etymology

Origin of whale¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English hwæl; cognate with German Wal- in Walfisch, Old Norse hvalr; akin to Latin squalus, a kind of fish; 2005–10 whale ¹ for defs. 6, 7 (from the consideration of the victim as a “big fish/phish”)

Origin of whale²

First recorded in 1780–90; origin uncertain

Explanation

A whale is a large mammal that lives in the ocean. Whales need to breathe air periodically, and the blowholes on their heads help them do this. Blue whales are the largest animals that ever lived — they're even bigger than the largest dinosaurs were! The Old English root of whale means both "whale" and "walrus," although these two marine animals are quite different from each other. While some whales grow to be only ten feet long, many whales are enormous. The informal phrase "a whale of a" comes from the idea that whales are impressive, and you can use it for things (or people) that really distinguish themselves: "Wow, this is a whale of a party!"

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

whale whales whaled whaling

Gaslight became common in cities in the early 19th century, but people living beyond the reach of a gasworks still had to use expensive candles or whale oil.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026

They came from a whale that was killed legally by native Inuit in 1996, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026

During the whale watching sail from the Aquarium of the Pacific, a shark briefly surfaced, its fin visible.

From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026

My first gray whale sighting was entirely accidental.

From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026

The whale dived down and Zheng grabbed its barnacled body as they plummeted into the depths, then everything went black again.

From "The Boy Who Met a Whale" by Nizrana Farook

They have been seen targeting many kinds of animals, including whales larger than themselves, and they rely on a remarkable range of coordinated hunting methods.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 23, 2026

Killer whales are highly intelligent apex predators and have been known to play with their prey and deploy sophisticated tactics to ensnare them.

From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026

See these killer whales explode fish into pieces.

From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2026

Six beluga whales have arrived at aquariums in the United States after being moved from a closed Canadian marine park that could no longer care for the mammals.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

Just as the words were out of her mouth, they saw two more blue whales swimming in the distance.

From "The Boy Who Met a Whale" by Nizrana Farook

Numbers of these 16-foot-long marine mammals, hunted for their oil, meat, and baleen, had fallen to an estimated low of 1,200 animals in the North Pacific—a heavily whaled region—by the 1960s.

From National Geographic ● Sep. 28, 2023

Today’s blue whales find themselves in a whaled and warming ocean.

From Scientific American ● Jul. 31, 2020

Facing Erin's 7,800-plus yards but massively wide fairways—60 yards in some cases—players whaled away with impunity when typical winds failed to blow.

From Golf Digest ● Jun. 4, 2018

At one, Chadwick Boseman whaled on the drums and Lupita N’yongo was hailed as the best dancer.

From New York Times ● Apr. 19, 2018

The French never whaled in Canada; but the 'Bluenose' Nova Scotians did, and held their own against all comers.

From All Afloat A Chronicle of Craft and Waterways by Wood, William Charles Henry

This includes for the animals living in these "chemosynthetic" communities, whose numbers had been thought to have been drastically reduced by human whaling, she added.

From Barron's ● Jun. 10, 2026

The Mentor had set sail from New Bedford, Mass., the whaling capital of the United States, in July 1831, with a complement of 21 men led by Capt. Edward Barnard.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026

Reports of sperm whales using their heads to strike objects date back to open-boat whaling in the 19th century.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 23, 2026

Generations of whaling all but eliminated the western population — leaving only about 150 alive today off of East Asia and Russia.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 8, 2026

It could only be safely approached at Djerholm and Elling, and since security at both harbors was tight, they’d been forced to travel all the way to the northern whaling ports.

From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo

Related Words

• mammal
• porpoise