Whales

[hweylz, weylz]

noun

Bay of, an inlet of the Ross Sea, in Antarctica: location of Little America.

whale

[hweyl, weyl]

noun, plural whales, (especially collectively) whale.

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.
Informal. something big, great, or fine of its kind: I had a whale of a time in Europe.
(initial capital letter) Astronomy. the constellation Cetus.

verb (used without object), whaled, whal·ing.

to engage in whaling or whale fishing.

Origin of whale

before 900; Middle English; Old English hwæl; cognate with German Wal- in Walfisch, Old Norse hvalr; perhaps akin to Latin squalus kind of fish

Can be confusedwail whale

whale

[hweyl, weyl]

verb, whaled, whal·ing,

to hit, thrash, or beat soundly.

Origin of whale

First recorded in 1780–90; origin uncertain

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for whales

mammal, porpoise, whopper, cetacean, grampus, baleen, finback, beluga, rorqual, narwhal, orca, ceta, cete, orc, sei

Examples from the Web for whales

Contemporary Examples of whales

According to the activists, at least one of the whales is female and goes by the name “Narnia.”
Activists: Moscow Sea Park Is ‘Torturing’ Its Orca Whales
Anna Nemtsova
October 27, 2014
And this in turn affects the fish, whales, dolphins, turtles, dugongs and seabirds that live within the Reef.
Australia Wants to Open the Great Barrier Reef to Dumping
Kirsten Alexander
June 2, 2014
From whales to ships to unlucky explorers, the Skeleton Coast has become the graveyard of many.
Namibia’s Spooky Skeleton Coast
Nina Strochlic
March 5, 2014
But which mammals are their closest relatives, and when did whales enter the seas?
How Long Is a Year? Is the Earth Slowing Down? And Other Questions About Time
Neil Shubin
January 6, 2013
But the TARP did not just feed the whales of the American banking system.
The Banks That Still Owe TARP
Matthew Zeitlin
August 1, 2012

Historical Examples of whales

Thor caught two whales and carried them to the giant's house, as he had promised.
Classic Myths
Mary Catherine Judd
I've been turnin' out another school of swordfish and whales, too.
Shavings
Joseph C. Lincoln
It is so with earthquakes, cases of hydrophobia, whales stranded on the shore.
Introduction to the Study of History
Charles V. Langlois
Then we ran close to the neighborhood of a school of whales, evidently feeding.
Tales of Fishes
Zane Grey
He did so, but he said that they were not whales; they were porpoises.
Rollo on the Atlantic
Jacob Abbott

British Dictionary definitions for whales

whale

noun plural whales or whale

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 headRelated adjective: cetacean
any cetacean mammalSee also toothed whale, whalebone whale
slang a gambler who has the capacity to win and lose large sums of money in a casino
a whale of a informal an exceptionally large, fine, etc, example of a (person or thing)we had a whale of a time on holiday

Word Origin for whale

Old English hwæl; related to Old Saxon, Old High German hwal, Old Norse hvalr, Latin squalus seapig

whale

verb

(tr) to beat or thrash soundly

Word Origin for whale

C18: variant of wale 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for whales

whale

Old English hwæl, from Proto-Germanic *khwalaz (cf. Old Saxon hwal, Old Norse hvalr, hvalfiskr, Swedish val, Middle Dutch wal, walvisc, Dutch walvis, Old High German wal, German Wal); probably cognate with Latin squalus "a kind of large sea fish." Phrase whale of a "excellent or large example" is c.1900, student slang.

whale

"beat, whip severely," 1790, possibly a variant of wale (v.).