beluga

[ buh-loo-guh ]
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noun
  1. Also called hausen. a white sturgeon, Huso huso, of the Black and Caspian seas, valued as a source of caviar and isinglass.

  2. Also called sea canary, white whale. a cetacean, Delphinapterus leucas, of northern seas, that has a rounded head and is white when adult.

Origin of beluga

1
1585–95; <Russian belúga (now regularly belúkha for the cetacean), equivalent to bél() white + -uga, probably earlier *-ǫga (compare Czech pstruh,Polish pstrąg trout <*pĭstr- mottled + *-ǫgŭ a cognate suffix)

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British Dictionary definitions for beluga

beluga

/ (bɪˈluːɡə) /


noun
  1. a large white sturgeon, Acipenser (or Huso) huso, of the Black and Caspian Seas: a source of caviar and isinglass

  2. another name for white whale

Origin of beluga

1
C18: from Russian byeluga, from byely white

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012