whale

English Online Dictionary. What means whale‎? What does whale mean?

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: wāl, IPA^(key): /weɪl/
• (without the wine–whine merger) enPR: hwāl, IPA^(key): /ʍeɪl/
• Rhymes: -eɪl
• Homophones: wail, wale (wine–whine merger)

Etymology 1

From Middle English whal, whale, from Old English hwæl (“whale”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwal, from Proto-Germanic *hwalaz (“whale”) (compare German Wal, Swedish val, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hval, Norwegian Nynorsk kval; compare also Dutch walvis, West Frisian walfisk, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kʷálos (“sheatfish”) (compare German Wels, Latin squalus (“big sea fish”), Old Prussian kalis, Ancient Greek ἄσπαλος (áspalos), Avestan 𐬐𐬀𐬭𐬀 (kara, “kind of fish”)).

Noun

whale (plural whales)

2. Any one of numerous large marine mammals comprising an informal group within infraorder Cetacea that usually excludes dolphins and porpoises.

   Synonym: (obsolete) baleen
3. (by extension) Any species of Cetacea.
4. (figuratively) Something, or someone, that is very large.
   • 1920 September, “A Reformed Free Lance” (pseudonym), “Doctoring a Sick Encyclopedia”, in The Writer, Volume XXXII, Number 9, page 131:

     It was a whale of a job. […] It took two months, and the fair blush of youth off my cheeks.
5. (figuratively, as "whale of a ___") Something, or someone, that is excellent.
   • 2002, Kathleen Benson, Philip M. Kayal, Museum of the City of New York, A Community of Many Worlds: Arab Americans in New York City, Syracuse University Press →ISBN, page 54

     My own father only wrote one poem in his life as far as I know, but it was a whale of a lyric, the kind you would give your whole life to write, which he did, but that is another story.
6. (gambling, figuratively) A gambler who routinely wagers large amounts of money.

   Synonym: high roller
7. (finance, figuratively, informal) An investor who deals with very large amounts of money.
8. (marketing, figuratively) A person who spends large amounts of money on things that are marketed to them.
9. (figuratively, colloquial, derogatory) An overweight person (usually a woman)

Derived terms

Related terms

• narwhal
• rorqual
• walrus

Translations

See also

Verb

whale (third-person singular simple present whales, present participle whaling, simple past and past participle whaled)

1. (intransitive) To hunt for whales.

Derived terms

• whale away

Translations

References

• whale on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Cetacea on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Category:Cetacea on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Etymology 2

Uncertain. Perhaps a variant of wale influenced by whack, whap, etc.

Verb

whale (third-person singular simple present whales, present participle whaling, simple past and past participle whaled)

1. (slang, transitive) To thrash, to flog, to beat vigorously or soundly.
   • 1852, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Why Mr Sellum disposed of the horse (chapter XIV in Works, volume 22):

     Brought him back, put him in the stall—low stable—got out of his reach, and then begun to whale him. Then he kicked up agin; […]

   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:whale.

Derived terms

• whale on

Translations

Anagrams

• wheal

Middle English

Noun

whale (plural whales)

1. Alternative form of whal