Adjacent Words

Whale definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

WHALE, n. [G., to stir, agitate or rove.] The general name of an order of animals inhabiting the ocean, arranged in zoology under the name of Cete or Cetacea, and belonging to the class Mammalia in the Linnean system. The common whale is of the genus Balaena. It is the largest animal of which we have any account, and probably the largest in the world. It is sometimes ninety feet in length in the northern seas, and in the torrid zone much larger. The whale furnishes us with oil, whalebone, etc. [See Cachalot.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a very large person; impressive in size or qualities [syn: giant, hulk, heavyweight, whale]
2: any of the larger cetacean mammals having a streamlined body and breathing through a blowhole on the head v
1: hunt for whales

Merriam Webster's

I. noun (plural whales) Usage: often attributive Etymology: Middle English, from Old English hwæl; akin to Old High German hwal whale and perhaps to Latin squalus sea fish Date: before 12th century 1. or plural whale cetacean; especially one (as a sperm whale or killer whale) of larger size 2. one that is impressive especially in size <a whale of a difference> <a whale of a good time> • whalelike adjective II. intransitive verb (whaled; whaling) Date: 1700 to engage in whale fishing III. transitive verb (whaled; whaling) Etymology: origin unknown Date: circa 1790 1. lash, thrash 2. to strike or hit vigorously 3. to defeat soundly

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. (pl. same or whales) any of the larger marine mammals of the order Cetacea, having a streamlined body and horizontal tail, and breathing through a blowhole on the head. Phrases and idioms: a whale of a colloq. an exceedingly good or fine etc. whale-oil oil from the blubber of whales. whale shark a large tropical whalelike shark, Rhincodon typus, feeding close to the surface. Etymology: OE hwæl 2. v.tr. esp. US colloq. beat, thrash. Etymology: var. of WALE

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Whale Whale, n. [OE. whal, AS. hw[ae]l; akin to D. walvisch, G. wal, walfisch, OHG. wal, Icel. hvalr, Dan. & Sw. hval, hvalfisk. Cf. Narwhal, Walrus.] (Zo["o]l.) Any aquatic mammal of the order Cetacea, especially any one of the large species, some of which become nearly one hundred feet long. Whales are hunted chiefly for their oil and baleen, or whalebone.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(whales) 1. Whales are very large mammals that live in the sea. N-COUNT see also killer whale, sperm whale 2. If you say that someone is having a whale of a time, you mean that they are enjoying themselves very much. (INFORMAL) I had a whale of a time in Birmingham. PHRASE: V inflects

Easton's Bible Dictionary

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.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

hwal:

(1) ketos (Sirach 43:25 (the Revised Version (British and American) "sea-monster"); The So of Three Children verse 57 (the Revised Version (British and American) "whale"); Mt 12:40 (the Revised Version (British and American) "whale," margin "sea-monster"; the King James Version "whale" throughout)).

(2) tannin (Ge 1:21; Job 7:12), "sea-monster," the King James Version "whale."

(3) tannim (Eze 32:2), "monster," the English Revised Version "dragon" the King James Version "whale" the King James Version margin "dragon."

It will be seen from the above references that the word "whale" does not occur in the Revised Version (British and American) except in The So of Three Children verse 57 and Mt 12:40. Ketos, the original word in these passages, is, according to Liddell and Scott, used by Aristotle for "whale," Aristotle using also the adjective ketodes, "cetacean"; Homer and Herodotus used ketos for any large fish or sea-monster or for a seal. It is used in Euripides of the monster to which Andromeda was exposed. In the Hebrew, in the Book of Jonah, we find dagh or daghah, the ordinary word for "fish": "And Yahweh prepared great fish to swallow up Jonah" (Jon 1:17). Whales are found in the Mediterranean and are sometimes cast up on the shore of Palestine, but it is not likely that the ancient Greeks or Hebrews were very familiar with them, and it is by no means certain that whale is referred to, either in the original Jonah story or in the New Testament reference to it. If any particular animal is meant, it is more likely a shark. Sharks are much more familiar objects in the Mediterranean than whales, and some of them are of large size.

See FISH.

In Ge 1:21, "And God created the great seamonsters" (the King James Version, "whales"), and Job 7:12,

"Am I a sea, or a sea-monster (the King James Version "whale"),

That thou settest a watch over me?"

The Hebrew has tannin, which word occurs 14 times in the Old Testament and in the American Standard Revised Version is translated "monster," "sea-monster," or "serpent," and, exceptionally, in La 4:3, "jackals." the King James Version renders in several passages "dragon" (compare Eze 29:3 the English Revised Version).

Tannim in Eze 29:3 and 32:2 is believed to stand for tannin. the American Standard Revised Version has "monster," the English Revised Version "dragon," the King James Version "whale," the King James Version margin "dragon," in Eze 32:2, and "dragon" in 29:3. Tannim occurs in 11 other passages, where it is considered to be the plural of tan, and in the Revised Version (British and American) is translated "jackals," in the King James Version "dragons" (Job 30:29; Ps 44:19; Isa 13:22; 34:13; 35:7; 43:20; Jer 9:11; 10:22; 14:6; 49:33; 51:37). In Mal 1:3 we find the feminine plural tannoth.

See DRAGON; JACKAL.

Alfred Ely Day

Moby Thesaurus

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