pilot whale

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noun

a small, common whale, Globicephala sieboldii, of tropical and temperate seas, having a bulbous head.

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Also called pothead whale .

Origin of pilot whale

First recorded in 1865–70

Words nearby pilot whale

pilot signal, pilot station, pilot study, pilot waters, pilotweed, pilot whale, pilous, pilpul, Pils, Pilsen, Pilsner

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use pilot whale in a sentence

The Air Force has about seven pilots for every eight drone pilot slots, in other words.
Exclusive: U.S. Drone Fleet at ‘Breaking Point,’ Air Force Says|Dave Majumdar|January 5, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Investigators will focus on whether the sudden emergency was so extreme that no degree of pilot skill would have helped.
Flight 8501 Poses Question: Are Modern Jets Too Automated to Fly?|Clive Irving|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
At such a moment, the pilot has no resources other than his own instincts and experience.
Flight 8501 Poses Question: Are Modern Jets Too Automated to Fly?|Clive Irving|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
By 2011, Airbus was working on a program to replicate these conditions in a flight simulator for use in pilot training.
Flight 8501 Poses Question: Are Modern Jets Too Automated to Fly?|Clive Irving|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST

The “pilot flying” was more probably the far less experienced copilot.
Flight 8501 Poses Question: Are Modern Jets Too Automated to Fly?|Clive Irving|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The tall, lean youngster wore a junior pilot's bands on the sleeves of his blue uniform.
Fee of the Frontier|Horace Brown Fyfe
The Dimbula picked up her pilot and came in covered with salt and red rust.
Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II|Rudyard Kipling
A Naval Officer who has seen her says she is lying in shallow water—6 fathoms—bottom upwards looking like a stranded whale.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I|Ian Hamilton
These men seem to have later joined the pilot, as he had 14 men when he encountered La Saussaye.
The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Vol. II: Acadia, 1612-1614|Various
He was experienced in the North Atlantic trade, in seal, whale and cod fishing and other Newfoundland industries.
Fifty Years of Railway Life in England, Scotland and Ireland|Joseph Tatlow

British Dictionary definitions for pilot whale

pilot whale

noun

any of several black toothed whales of the genus Globicephala, such as G. melaena, that occur in all seas except polar seas: family DelphinidaeAlso called: black whale, blackfish

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