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blue whale
[ bloo-hweyl, weyl ]
/ ˈblu ˈʰweɪl, ˈweɪl /
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noun
a migratory baleen whale, Balaenoptera musculus, mostly of oceans and seas in the Southern Hemisphere, the largest mammal ever known, growing to a length of 100 feet (30.5 meters) and having a furrowed, slate-blue skin mottled with lighter spots, in some seas acquiring a yellowish coating of diatoms on the underside: now classified as endangered, it was once hunted nearly to extinction, but international conservation efforts begun in the 1960s have enabled the blue whale population to rebound significantly.
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Origin of blue whale
First recorded in 1850–55
Words nearby blue whale
blue vein, blue velvet, blue vitriol, blue-water, blueweed, blue whale, blue whistler, blue-winged teal, bluewood, blue wood aster, bluey
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022
How to use blue whale in a sentence
British Dictionary definitions for blue whale
blue whale
noun
the largest mammal: a widely distributed bluish-grey whalebone whale, Sibbaldus (or Balaenoptera) musculus, closely related and similar to the rorquals: family BalaenopteridaeAlso called: sulphur-bottom
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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