cachalot

[ kash-uh-lot, -loh ]

Origin of cachalot

1
1740–50; <French ≪ Portuguese cacholote, equivalent to cachol(a) pate, noggin (of obscure origin) + -ote augmentative suffix

Words Nearby cachalot

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use cachalot in a sentence

  • M. Pomel, whom I cited above, believed it to come from the brain of the whale called "cachalot."

    More Science From an Easy Chair | Sir E. Ray (Edwin Ray) Lankester
  • But it may, perhaps, be significant that a cachalot was stranded off Sark on June 3.

  • Out came the head belonging to it, and a spout like an explosion burst forth, denoting the presence of an enormous bull-cachalot.

    The Cruise of the Cachalot | Frank T. Bullen
  • Except for the head work, removing the blubber was effected in precisely the same way as in the case of the cachalot.

    The Cruise of the Cachalot | Frank T. Bullen
  • The resultant oil, when recent, is of a clear white, unlike the golden-tinted fluid obtained from the cachalot.

    The Cruise of the Cachalot | Frank T. Bullen

British Dictionary definitions for cachalot

cachalot

/ (ˈkæʃəˌlɒt) /


noun
  1. another name for sperm whale

Origin of cachalot

1
C18: from French, from Portuguese, cachalote, of unknown origin

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