Adjacent Words

sperm whale definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: large whale with a large cavity in the head containing spermaceti and oil; also a source of ambergris [syn: sperm whale, cachalot, black whale, Physeter catodon]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: short for spermaceti whale Date: circa 1700 a large toothed whale (Physeter macrocephalus syn. P. catodon) with a massive squarish head having a large closed cavity containing a fluid mixture of spermaceti and oil

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sperm Sperm, n.[Contr. fr. spermaceti.] Spermaceti. Sperm oil, a fatty oil found as a liquid, with spermaceti, in the head cavities of the sperm whale. Sperm whale. (Zo["o]l.) See in the Vocabulary.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sperm whale Sperm" whale` (Zo["o]l.) A very large toothed whale (Physeter macrocephalus), having a head of enormous size. The upper jaw is destitute of teeth. In the upper part of the head, above the skull, there is a large cavity, or case, filled with oil and spermaceti. This whale sometimes grows to the length of more than eighty feet. It is found in the warmer parts of all the oceans. Called also cachalot, and spermaceti whale. Pygmy sperm whale (Zo["o]l.), a small whale (Kogia breviceps), seldom twenty feet long, native of tropical seas, but occasionally found on the American coast. Called also snub-nosed cachalot. Sperm-whale porpoise (Zo["o]l.), a toothed cetacean (Hypero["o]don bidens), found on both sides of the Atlantic and valued for its oil. The adult becomes about twenty-five feet long, and its head is very large and thick. Called also bottle-nosed whale.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(sperm whales) A sperm whale is a large whale with a large head that has a section in it which contains oil. N-COUNT