WHALE

Definitions

1. 1. 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.
2. 2. The turnstone; -- so called because it lives on the carcasses of whales. [Canada] -- Whale fin (Com.), whalebone. Simmonds. -- Whale fishery, the fishing for, or occupation of taking, whales. -- Whale louse (Zoöl.), any one of several species of degraded amphipod crustaceans belonging to the genus Cyamus, especially C. ceti. They are parasitic on various cetaceans. -- Whale's bone, ivory. [Obs.] -- Whale shark. (Zoöl.) (a) The basking, or liver, shark. (b) A very large harmless shark (Rhinodon typicus) native of the Indian Ocean. It sometimes becomes sixty feet long. -- Whale shot, the name formerly given to spermaceti. -- Whale's tongue (Zoöl.), a balanoglossus.