whale

¹ American  

[weyl, hweyl] / weɪl, ʰweɪl /

noun

• whales,
  plural
• whale
  plural

1. any of the larger marine mammals of the order Cetacea, especially as distinguished from the smaller dolphins and porpoises, having a fishlike body, forelimbs modified into flippers, and a head that is horizontally flattened.

2. Informal. something big, great, or fine of its kind.

   I had a whale of a time in Europe.

   Programming this game turned out to be a whale of a project.

3. Also called crypto whale.  an investor who holds a large amount of cryptocurrency and is therefore able to create noticeable effects on the market, as by influencing prices through large transactions or by reducing the amount of available cryptocurrency through failure to move their holdings.

   The recent accumulation of this cryptocurrency by whales may indicate that they expect it to see significant gains in the near future.

4. Astronomy. Whale, the constellation Cetus.

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verb (used without object)

whaled, whaling

1. to engage in whaling or whale fishing.

2. Digital Technology. to phish by posing as a company’s attorney, CEO, vendor, or other authorized entity in order to scam a payroll department, corporate executive, etc., out of money or confidential information.

   When she demonstrated her project, “How to Whale and Make Millions,” they didn’t know whether to award her or arrest her!

verb (used with object)

whaled, whaling

1. Digital Technology. to make (a company’s employee or department) a phishing victim by posing as an entity authorized to procure money or confidential information from the company.

   Before proving he had been whaled, the marketing VP was subjected to much scrutiny and suspicion.

whale ² American  

[hweyl, weyl] / ʰweɪl, weɪl /

verb

whaled, whaling

1. to hit, thrash, or beat soundly.

   Back then, if we misbehaved, Dad would threaten to whale us.

   We took advantage of the other team where they were weakest and whaled the stuffing out of them.

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verb phrase

1. whale (away) at / on

   1. to work vigorously and continuously at or on.

      It was cool to see this bunch of talented writers whaling away on their screenplay.

      I remember whaling at code over and over, pretty much at random, until I found something that sort of worked.

   2. to strike with furious and repeated blows.

      Satisfying as it was to whale on the punching bag, it did little to restore my emotional balance.

      In the last round, he pinned his opponent in the corner and was whaling away at him with both hands.

   3. to criticize vehemently.

      When hostile people are whaling on your ideas, it’s easy to feel humiliated and angry.

      Now all the political pundits are whaling away at the president for neglecting the military.

   4. to play (an instrument) with abandon.

      There was a jazz musician in the corner of the bar, whaling away at the piano.

      He and his band whaled on their instruments with their whole bodies—it was amazing!

whale ¹ British  

/ weɪl /

noun

1. any of the larger cetacean mammals, excluding dolphins, porpoises, and narwhals. They have flippers, a streamlined body, and a horizontally flattened tail and breathe through a blowhole on the top of the head

2. any cetacean mammal See also toothed whale whalebone whale

3. slang a gambler who has the capacity to win and lose large sums of money in a casino

4. informal an exceptionally large, fine, etc, example of a (person or thing)

   we had a whale of a time on holiday

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whale ² British  

/ weɪl /

verb

1. (tr) to beat or thrash soundly

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• whale
  plural
• whales
  plural

Etymology

Origin of whale¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English hwæl; cognate with German Wal- in Walfisch, Old Norse hvalr; akin to Latin squalus, a kind of fish; 2005–10 whale ¹ for defs. 6, 7 (from the consideration of the victim as a “big fish/phish”)

Origin of whale²

First recorded in 1780–90; origin uncertain

Explanation

A whale is a large mammal that lives in the ocean. Whales need to breathe air periodically, and the blowholes on their heads help them do this. Blue whales are the largest animals that ever lived — they're even bigger than the largest dinosaurs were! The Old English root of whale means both "whale" and "walrus," although these two marine animals are quite different from each other. While some whales grow to be only ten feet long, many whales are enormous. The informal phrase "a whale of a" comes from the idea that whales are impressive, and you can use it for things (or people) that really distinguish themselves: "Wow, this is a whale of a party!"

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

whale whales whaled whaling

Described by SeaWorld as “an unprecedented international whale rescue effort,” the goal is to safely relocate the animals to suitable facilities, including aquariums and marine parks as far away as Atlanta and Valencia, Spain.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026

It is not clear from this study whether the change reflects an overall increase in the populations of these whale species, or just a redistribution from other areas.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

He generally sees humpbacks but sometimes other species including the still critically endangered North Atlantic Right whale.

From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026

Grizzly bears are — were — omnivores, not picky eaters, and also lazy ones, noshing on berries, roots, acorns, beached whale carcasses and any laggardly young elk.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

It was like being shot through the blowhole of a huge whale!

From "I Survived the Great Alaska Earthquake, 1964" by Lauren Tarshis

Ever since that Ontario park, Marineland, shuttered in 2024, there has been a scramble to find homes for 30 beluga whales who were once kept there.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026

To date, whales have been transported both by air and truck.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026

That is a sensitive issue in Greenland, a country where some whales are hunted.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

Sea ice has been disappearing from East Greenland, allowing giant whales to take advantage and move in to previously inaccessible areas.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

Throughout that great, big ocean, whales were singing the same song, over and over.

From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown

Numbers of these 16-foot-long marine mammals, hunted for their oil, meat, and baleen, had fallen to an estimated low of 1,200 animals in the North Pacific—a heavily whaled region—by the 1960s.

From National Geographic ● Sep. 28, 2023

Today’s blue whales find themselves in a whaled and warming ocean.

From Scientific American ● Jul. 31, 2020

Facing Erin's 7,800-plus yards but massively wide fairways—60 yards in some cases—players whaled away with impunity when typical winds failed to blow.

From Golf Digest ● Jun. 4, 2018

Sock, whose nicknames are "J Sizzle" and "Showtime," whaled away on everything.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2014

It seems pretty hard, after a fellow has had his life almost whaled out of him, to say he is sorry.

From Deerfoot in The Mountains by John Steeple Davis

This includes for the animals living in these "chemosynthetic" communities, whose numbers had been thought to have been drastically reduced by human whaling, she added.

From Barron's ● Jun. 10, 2026

The Mentor had set sail from New Bedford, Mass., the whaling capital of the United States, in July 1831, with a complement of 21 men led by Capt. Edward Barnard.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026

Much of what scientists know about whale behavior comes from studying populations that had already been heavily impacted by whaling.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 5, 2026

California shut down the nation’s last whaling station in 1971.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 8, 2026

Around the men was the familiar pervasive stench of the whaling factory—smelling almost as bad as they did themselves.

From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong

Related Words

• mammal
• porpoise