whale1

[hweyl, weyl] /ʰweɪl, weɪl/
noun, plural whales (especially collectively) whale.
1.
any of the larger marine mammals of the order Cetacea, especially as distinguished from the smaller dolphins and porpoises, having a fishlike body, forelimbs modified into flippers, and a head that is horizontally flattened.
2.
Informal. something big, great, or fine of its kind:
I had a whale of a time in Europe.
3.
(initial capital letter) Astronomy. the constellation Cetus.
verb (used without object), whaled, whaling.
4.
to engage in whaling or whale fishing.
Origin
before 900; Middle English; Old English hwæl; cognate with German Wal- in Walfisch, Old Norse hvalr; perhaps akin to Latin squalus kind of fish

whale2

[hweyl, weyl] /ʰweɪl, weɪl/
verb, whaled, whaling
1.
to hit, thrash, or beat soundly.
Origin
1780-90; origin uncertain
Examples from the web for whale
  • The types of samples range from mammal blood to bird liver to whale skin.
  • The northern right whale is the world's rarest cetacean.
  • There is no eel so small but it hopes to become a whale.
  • The human brain is heavier than that of any of the lower animals, except the elephant and whale.
  • The tonnage bounties given to the white-herring and whale-fisheries may, perhaps, be considered as somewhat of this nature.
  • During the early nineteenth century whale oil was the preferred fuel for household illumination.
  • Among other talk, to-day, it came out that whale-ships carry no doctor.
  • Writer briefly tells about eating lion, whale, and porpoise.
  • It was designed to let the dwindling whale population recover.
  • Labor is scarce in the date packer's kitchens, and stuffing dates is a whale of a trouble.
British Dictionary definitions for whale

whale1

/weɪl/
noun (pl) whales, whale
1.
any of the larger cetacean mammals, excluding dolphins, porpoises, and narwhals. They have flippers, a streamlined body, and a horizontally flattened tail and breathe through a blowhole on the top of the head related adjective cetacean
2.
any cetacean mammal See also toothed whale, whalebone whale
3.
(slang) a gambler who has the capacity to win and lose large sums of money in a casino
4.
(informal) a whale of a, an exceptionally large, fine, etc, example of a (person or thing): we had a whale of a time on holiday
Word Origin
Old English hwæl; related to Old Saxon, Old High German hwal, Old Norse hvalr, Latin squalus seapig

whale2

/weɪl/
verb
1.
(transitive) to beat or thrash soundly
Word Origin
C18: variant of wale1
Word Origin and History for whale
n.

Old English hwæl, from Proto-Germanic *khwalaz (cf. Old Saxon hwal, Old Norse hvalr, hvalfiskr, Swedish val, Middle Dutch wal, walvisc, Dutch walvis, Old High German wal, German Wal); probably cognate with Latin squalus "a kind of large sea fish." Phrase whale of a "excellent or large example" is c.1900, student slang.

v.

"beat, whip severely," 1790, possibly a variant of wale (v.).

Slang definitions & phrases for whale

whale 1

noun

A large or fat person; beached whale (1900+)


whale 2

noun

A heavy blow: She gave him a hard whale to the nose

verb
  1. To hit; thrash; trounce: They whaled us six–zip/ She hauled off and whaled him a shrewd blow (1790+)
  2. (also wail) To do extremely well; excel (1980s+ Students)

[fr British dialect spelling of wale, ''strike, beat,'' perhaps related to Old English wœl, ''slaughter, carnage, death'']


whale in the Bible

The Hebrew word _tan_ (plural, tannin) is so rendered in Job 7:12 (A.V.; but R.V., "sea-monster"). It is rendered by "dragons" in Deut. 32:33; Ps. 91:13; Jer. 51:34; Ps. 74:13 (marg., "whales;" and marg. of R.V., "sea-monsters"); Isa. 27:1; and "serpent" in Ex. 7:9 (R.V. marg., "any large reptile," and so in ver. 10, 12). The words of Job (7:12), uttered in bitter irony, where he asks, "Am I a sea or a whale?" simply mean, "Have I a wild, untamable nature, like the waves of the sea, which must be confined and held within bounds, that they cannot pass?" "The serpent of the sea, which was but the wild, stormy sea itself, wound itself around the land, and threatened to swallow it up...Job inquires if he must be watched and plagued like this monster, lest he throw the world into disorder" (Davidson's Job). The whale tribe are included under the general Hebrew name _tannin_ (Gen. 1:21; Lam. 4:3). "Even the sea-monsters [tanninim] draw out the breast." The whale brings forth its young alive, and suckles them. It is to be noticed of the story of Jonah's being "three days and three nights in the whale's belly," as recorded in Matt. 12:40, that here the Gr. ketos means properly any kind of sea-monster of the shark or the whale tribe, and that in the book of Jonah (1:17) it is only said that "a great fish" was prepared to swallow Jonah. This fish may have been, therefore, some great shark. The white shark is known to frequent the Mediterranean Sea, and is sometimes found 30 feet in length.