beluga
Americannoun
-
Also called hausen. a white sturgeon, Huso huso, of the Black and Caspian seas, valued as a source of caviar and isinglass.
-
Also called sea canary, white whale. a cetacean, Delphinapterus leucas, of northern seas, that has a rounded head and is white when adult.
noun
-
a large white sturgeon, Acipenser (or Huso ) huso , of the Black and Caspian Seas: a source of caviar and isinglass
-
another name for white whale
Etymology
Origin of beluga
1585–95; < Russian belúga (now regularly belúkha for the cetacean), equivalent to bél ( yĭ ) white + -uga, probably earlier *-ǫga (compare Czech pstruh, Polish pstrąg trout < *pĭstr- mottled + *-ǫgŭ a cognate suffix)
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.
Canada's federal government on Monday gave Marineland conditional approval to sell its 30 imperilled beluga whales to parks in the United States, after rejecting an export request to China.
From Barron's
What happened when all the new animals in the north killed off the arctic foxes and belugas and narwhals and polar bears that already lived there?
From Literature
The remaining 30 captive belugas at Canada's Marineland have nothing to do but wait.
From Barron's
Marine animals face similar challenges: beluga whales have documented gastrointestinal cancers, while farmed Atlantic salmon experience cardiomyopathy syndrome.
From Science Daily
Amid financial struggles, the park has been trying to get permission to sell 30 beluga whales to China.
From BBC
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.
