sperm whale

American  

noun

1. a large, square-snouted whale, Physeter catodon, valued for its oil and spermaceti: now reduced in number and rare in some areas.

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sperm whale British  

noun

1. Also called: cachalot.  a large toothed whale, Physeter catodon, having a square-shaped head and hunted for sperm oil, spermaceti, and ambergris: family Physeteridae

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Etymology

Origin of sperm whale

First recorded in 1825–35

Example Sentences

Kent frames his illustration of Daggoo, the African crewman, darting a sperm whale from directly behind the harpooner, depicting him in muscular silhouette.

From The Wall Street Journal

The researchers used drones carrying sterile petri dishes to capture droplets from the exhaled breath of humpback, fin and sperm whales, combined with skin biopsies taken from boats.

From BBC

It was an especially large type of whale called a sperm whale; from nose to tail it was as long as the Acorn itself.

From Literature

The scientists said deep divers, such as sperm whales, and pelagic dolphins showed a steadier increase in strandings since the 1990s.

From BBC

But another kind of whale communication, among the very social if less musical sperm whales, has more recently become a focus of research into exactly how whale communication, or language, might work.

From Salon