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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.
QUIZ
THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?
Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.
Question 1 of 7
In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…
Also called sul·fur-bot·tom, sulphur-bottom [suhl-fer-bot-uhm] /ˈsʌl fərˌbɒt əm/ .

Origin of blue whale

First recorded in 1850–55
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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 Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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