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cachalot

American  
[kash-uh-lot, -loh] / ˈkæʃ əˌlɒt, -ˌloʊ /

noun

  1. sperm whale.


cachalot British  
/ ˈkæʃəˌlɒt /

noun

  1. another name for sperm whale

"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

Etymology

Origin of cachalot

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

See Examples For:

We left the crew of the Catamaran in full occupation,—“smoking” shark-flesh on the back of a cachalot whale.

From The Ocean Waifs A Story of Adventure on Land and Sea by Reid, Mayne

Scores of sharks,—both of the blue and white species,—attended by their pilots and suckers, were swimming around the carcass of the cachalot.

From The Ocean Waifs A Story of Adventure on Land and Sea by Reid, Mayne

Had it been the demon of the mist that gave utterance to these speeches, they could not have produced a more fearful effect upon those who heard them from the back of the cachalot.

From The Ocean Waifs A Story of Adventure on Land and Sea by Reid, Mayne

The large toothed-whales, including the cachalot or sperm whale, and also the Ziphius-like beaked whales, live upon cuttle-fish.

From More Science From an Easy Chair by Lankester, E. Ray (Edwin Ray), Sir

In these objects there was no difficulty in recognising the wreck of the Pandora’s raft, which was drifting at no great distance from the place where they had been cutting up the cachalot.

From The Ocean Waifs A Story of Adventure on Land and Sea by Reid, Mayne

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