whale of a time

A very enjoyable experience, as in We had a whale of a time in Puerto Rico. This idiom alludes to the largest mammal to describe something very large and impressive. [Colloquial; early 1900s]

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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.

"We only come up for the day to use it, we used to come as a family, it's lovely up here, we would always have a whale of a time," she said.

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"If you look at my page, it looks like I'm having a whale of a time," Caity says.

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He said he had a "whale of a time" growing up despite having little money, living in a local community which "looked after each other".

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Broadcaster Rev Richard Coles told BBC Breakfast he had a "whale of a time" when he took part in the show in 2017, but that he wasn't surprised by the current furore.

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He explains why it was actually a whale of a time.