whale oil
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of whale oil
late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50
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.
Some believed this clean-burning fuel might one day replace whale oil as America’s chief indoor lighting source.
From Barron's ● May 2, 2026
Two whale oil lamps cast a dim light.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 11, 2023
Demand for whale oil dropped when petroleum, which had begun to supplant it around the mid-19th century, gained popularity.
From New York Times ● Sep. 7, 2022
By 1840, palm oil was cheap enough to completely replace tallow or whale oil in such products as soap and candles.
From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2021
Without the hired lamplighters, most of the city’s 662 whale oil streetlamps remained unlit, the surrounding areas cast into a gloomy darkness.
From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
