WHALE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does whale mean? 

• WHALE (noun)
  The noun WHALE has 2 senses:

1. a very large person; impressive in size or qualities

2. any of the larger cetacean mammals having a streamlined body and breathing through a blowhole on the head

  Familiarity information: WHALE used as a noun is rare.

• WHALE (verb)
  The verb WHALE has 1 sense:

1. hunt for whales

  Familiarity information: WHALE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WHALE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A very large person; impressive in size or qualities

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

giant; heavyweight; hulk; whale

Hypernyms ("whale" is a kind of...):

large person (a person of greater than average size)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any of the larger cetacean mammals having a streamlined body and breathing through a blowhole on the head

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("whale" is a kind of...):

blower; cetacean; cetacean mammal (large aquatic carnivorous mammal with fin-like forelimbs no hind limbs, including: whales; dolphins; porpoises; narwhals)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "whale"):

baleen whale; whalebone whale (whale with plates of whalebone along the upper jaw for filtering plankton from the water)

toothed whale (any of several whales having simple conical teeth and feeding on fish etc.)

Monodon monoceros; narwal; narwhal; narwhale (small Arctic whale the male having a long spiral ivory tusk)

spouter (a spouting whale)

Derivation:

whale (hunt for whales)

• WHALE (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Hunt for whales

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "whale" is one way to...):

hunt; hunt down; run; track down (pursue for food or sport (as of wild animals))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sentence example:

In the summer they like to go out and whale

Derivation:

whale (any of the larger cetacean mammals having a streamlined body and breathing through a blowhole on the head)

whaler (a ship engaged in whale fishing)

whaler (a seaman who works on a ship that hunts whales)

 Context examples 

Seals, whales and other marine animals can hear under water.

(Marine Birds Can Hear Under Water, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

While a whale shark can be worth as much as $250,000 USD dead, alive it can provide more than $2 Million USD over the course of its life span.

(New study of endangered whale shark youth shows vital habitat similarities, Wikinews)

They eat a specialized diet, including seals and whales, that’s rich in protein and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids.

(Genetic Adaptations to Diet and Climate, NIH)

As she squared off more and more, escaping from the side pressure, she righted herself and broke her deck, like a whale’s back, through the ocean surface.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Be a good dog and all ’ll go well and the goose hang high. Be a bad dog, and I’ll whale the stuffin’ outa you. Understand?

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

The Environment Ministry reports that about 2.9 million whales were killed worldwide in the 20th century, 71% of them in the Southern Hemisphere.

(Brazil to support South Atlantic whale sanctuary bid, Agência BRASIL)

Most prominent are an elongated dark feature at the equator, informally known as the whale, and a large heart-shaped bright area measuring some 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) across on the right.

(A “Heart” from Pluto as Flyby Begins, NASA)

I first became acquainted with him on board a whale vessel; finding that he was unemployed in this city, I easily engaged him to assist in my enterprise.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Bowhead whales are highly efficient at digesting these lipids.

(Whales may owe their efficient digestion to millions of tiny microbes, National Science Foundation)

He was a most daring and successful seal and whale fisher.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)