BALEEN WHALE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does baleen whale mean? 

• BALEEN WHALE (noun)
  The noun BALEEN WHALE has 1 sense:

1. whale with plates of whalebone along the upper jaw for filtering plankton from the water

  Familiarity information: BALEEN WHALE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BALEEN WHALE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Whale with plates of whalebone along the upper jaw for filtering plankton from the water

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

baleen whale; whalebone whale

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

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

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

right whale (large Arctic whalebone whale; allegedly the 'right' whale to hunt because of its valuable whalebone and oil)

Balaena mysticetus; bowhead; bowhead whale; Greenland whale (large-mouthed Arctic whale)

razorback; rorqual (any of several baleen whales of the family Balaenopteridae having longitudinal grooves on the throat and a small pointed dorsal fin)

Balaenoptera musculus; blue whale; sulfur bottom (largest mammal ever known; bluish-grey migratory whalebone whale mostly of southern hemisphere)

humpback; humpback whale; Megaptera novaeangliae (large whalebone whale with long flippers noted for arching or humping its back as it dives)

devilfish; Eschrichtius gibbosus; Eschrichtius robustus; gray whale; grey whale (medium-sized greyish-black whale of the northern Pacific)

Holonyms ("baleen whale" is a member of...):

Mysticeti; suborder Mysticeti (baleen whales: right whales; rorquals; blue whales; humpbacks)

 Context examples 

If wax esters are difficult to digest, how can bowhead and other baleen whales do so efficiently?

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

The ambient sound field is dominated by the sound of earthquakes, both near and far, as well as distinct moans of baleen whales, and the clamor of a category 4 typhoon that just happened to pass overhead.

(Seven miles deep, the ocean is still a noisy place, NOAA)