I. ˈhwāl, esp before pause or consonant -āəl; also ˈwā- noun
( plural whale or whales )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English hwæl; akin to Old High German hwal whale, Old Norse hvalr, and probably to Latin squalus, a sea fish
1. : an aquatic mammal of the order Cetacea that superficially resembles a large fish and is valued commercially for whale oil, for the flesh which is used as human food and in animal feeds and fertilizers, and formerly for baleen ; especially : one of the larger members of this group — compare dolphin , porpoise ; see toothed whale , whalebone whale , zeuglodon
2.
a. : a person or thing with an extraordinary appetite or keenness
a whale for work
the great ship — an insatiable whale that ate men and gold — James Dugan
b. : a person or thing impressive in size or qualities or superlatively good of kind
not impressed by the pronouncements of the scientific whales
a whale of a difference
a whale of a story
— often used intensively in the phrase a whale of a
borrowed a whale of a lot of money
a whale of a good time
II. intransitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
: to engage in whale fishing
III. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: origin unknown
transitive verb
1. : lash , thrash
whale a boy for lying
2. : to strike or hit vigorously
whale the ball for a home run
3. : to bring by thrashing or striking
whale the dust out of the carpets
4. : to defeat soundly
whaled their rivals 20 to 0
intransitive verb
: to perform an action with great vigor ; especially : to make a vigorous attack on a person or thing — often used with away
uses his daily column to whale away at his pet peeves
IV.
variant of wale