sulphur-bottom

American  

[suhl-fer-bot-uhm] / ˈsʌl fərˌbɒt əm /

noun

1. blue whale.

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sulphur-bottom British  

noun

1. another name for blue whale

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Etymology

Origin of sulphur-bottom

First recorded in 1775–85

Example Sentences

In a dark hall of Manhattan's American Museum of Natural History, beneath the mottled, 76-ft. belly of a sulphur-bottom whale, the Museum had assembled and spotlighted some 200 masks from all over the world.

From Time Magazine Archive

The sulphur-bottom, river St. Lawrence, ninety foot long; they are but seldom killed, as being extremely swift.

From Letters from an American Farmer by St. John de Crèvecoeur, J. Hector

The sulphur-bottom whale is the largest, but it is never harpooned, as it is too dangerous, and will always run all the line out of the tubs before it stops sounding.

From The Story of a Strange Career Being the Autobiography of a Convict; an Authentic Document by Anonymous

Grenfell helped take to pieces a "sulphur-bottom" whale ninety-five feet long, supposed to weigh nearly 300,000 pounds.

From Grenfell: Knight-Errant of the North by Waldo, Fullerton