whalebone
Americannoun
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Also called: baleen. a horny elastic material forming a series of numerous thin plates that hang from the upper jaw on either side of the palate in the toothless (whalebone) whales and strain plankton from water entering the mouth
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a thin strip of this substance, used in stiffening corsets, bodices, etc
Etymology
Origin of whalebone
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The cinched waist—the subtle negative drafts ahead of rear quarters—might as well have had whalebone stays.
From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 25, 2025
Between the sapphires and the whalebone corset she describes, one false breath or move could rip both the gown and her skin apart.
From Slate • May 4, 2023
"I've promised now not to pursue having the other whalebone removed - now they're a matching pair it seems cruel to have the other one removed."
From BBC • Feb. 27, 2022
Every day, on board the Pequod, Ishmael looks out for a glimpse of Ahab, with a peg leg made out of whalebone.
From The New Yorker • Jul. 22, 2019
She doesn’t mean to be cruel, she doesn’t know she’s just relegated me to the dust heap along with crank telephones and whalebone stays.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
