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WHALE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Any of the larger cetacean mammals having a streamlined body and breathing through a blowhole on the head
Classified under:
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)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A very large person; impressive in size or qualities
Synonyms:
giant; heavyweight; hulk; whale
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("whale" is a kind of...):
large person (a person of greater than average size)
II. (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:
However, now and then they take a whale that happens to be dashed against the rocks, which the common people feed on heartily.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
Seals, whales and penguins all feast on shrimplike crustaceans called Antarctic krill.
(Whaling and climate change lead to 100 years of feast or famine for Antarctic penguins, National Science Foundation)
“It's my opinion, you see,” said Mr. Peggotty, with a delighted face, after some further rubbing of his legs, “as this is along of my havin' played with her so much, and made believe as we was Turks, and French, and sharks, and every wariety of forinners—bless you, yes; and lions and whales, and I doen't know what all!—when she warn't no higher than my knee. I've got into the way on it, you know. Why, this here candle, now!” said Mr. Peggotty, gleefully holding out his hand towards it, “I know wery well that arter she's married and gone, I shall put that candle theer, just the same as now. I know wery well that when I'm here o' nights (and where else should I live, bless your arts, whatever fortun' I come into!) and she ain't here or I ain't theer, I shall put the candle in the winder, and sit afore the fire, pretending I'm expecting of her, like I'm a doing now. THERE'S a babby for you,” said Mr. Peggotty, with another roar, “in the form of a Sea Porkypine! Why, at the present minute, when I see the candle sparkle up, I says to myself, “She's a looking at it! Em'ly's a coming!”
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Human-created noise has increased steadily in recent decades and getting these first recordings allows scientists in the future to determine if the noise levels are growing and how this might affect marine animals that use sound to communicate, navigate and feed, such as whales, dolphins and fish.
(Seven miles deep, the ocean is still a noisy place, NOAA)
Part of the most remote island archipelago on Earth, Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monumen is home to more than 7,000 marine species, including coral, fish, seals, turtles, whales, and several shipwrecks, and serves as the final resting place for more than 3,000 sailors and soldiers who served during World War II.
(National monument in Hawaii becomes world's largest marine protected area, NOAA)
The Ross Sea - home to penguins, seals, Antarctic toothfish, whales and huge numbers of krill - a staple food for many species - is one of the last intact marine ecosystems in the world.
(Deal Reached to Create World's Largest Marine Reserve in Antarctica, VOA News)
It looks like it was changes in the oceans, in the chemistry and in the ecology of the oceans, and so you had a long-term willowing away of these ichthyosaurs as they became less and less common, less and less diverse, until they trickled away to extinction, and then that is when groups like sharks and ultimately whales and dolphins moved on in," said the paleontologist.
(Sea Monster Swam Oceans 170 Million Years Ago, Voanews)
The blue whale, which is the largest species at 30 meters long, had a large presence on the Brazilian coast, but nowadays it is rarely sighted.
(Brazil to support South Atlantic whale sanctuary bid, Agência BRASIL)
The whale shark can grow to eighteen metres (60 ft) in length.
(New study of endangered whale shark youth shows vital habitat similarities, Wikinews)
In the lab, Miller and her colleagues analyzed samples from bowhead whales' gastrointestinal tracts, hoping to detect changes in microbial communities and lipids throughout the gut of each whale.
(Whales may owe their efficient digestion to millions of tiny microbes, National Science Foundation)
