Dictionary Home » Dictionary Definitions » whale

whale

Listen See in Thesaurus See in a sentence

The definition of a whale is a large mammal that lives in water, bears live young, has flippers, a flat horizontal tail and breaths air through one or two blowholes.

(noun)

An example of a whale is the character Moby Dick in the book Moby Dick.

Whale is defined as to attack, hit very hard over and over again, or hunt whales.

(verb)

An example of whale is viciously spreading rumors and causing scandal in a person's life.
An example of whale is a boxer punching their opponent again and again.
An example of whale is what the Japanese ships are doing on the television show Whale Wars.

See whale in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun pl. whales or whale

any member of either of two orders (Mysticeta and Odontoceta) of aquatic mammals that breathe air, bear live young, and have front limbs that have been modified into flippers, and a flat, horizontal tail
any of the larger members of these two groups, excluding the porpoises and dolphins (except for the killer whale)

Origin: ME whal < OE hwæl, akin to OHG hwal, ON hvalr, MDu wal < IE base *(s)kwalos, a large fish > L squalus, big sea fish

intransitive verb whaled, whaling

to engage in the work of hunting whales

transitive verb whaled, whaling

Informal to beat; whip; thrash

Origin: prob. var. of wale

See whale in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

Any of various marine mammals of the order Cetacea, having the general shape of a fish with forelimbs modified to form flippers, a tail with horizontal flukes, and one or two blowholes for breathing, especially one of the very large species as distinguished from the smaller dolphins and porpoises.
Informal An impressive example: a whale of a story.

intransitive verb whaled whaled, whal·ing, whales whales

To engage in the hunting of whales.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English

Origin: , from Old English hwǽl

verb whaled whaled, whal·ing, whales whales

verb, transitive

To strike or hit repeatedly and forcefully; thrash.

verb, intransitive

To attack vehemently: The poet whaled away at the critics.

Origin:

Origin: Origin unknown