Meaning & use
whale
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Meanings
nouncountablebiology
A very large sea mammal that breathes air through the top of its head and is warm-blooded, like a dolphin but usually much bigger.
Grammar: Countable: a whale, many whales.
Patterns
- a school of whales
- whale of a species
A blue whale is the largest animal ever to have lived.
We saw a whale breach beside the boat.
Whales sing to communicate across long distances.
nouncountableinformalslang
A person who gambles or spends very large amounts of money, especially in a casino or a video game.
Grammar: Informal; whales are the big spenders.
Patterns
- a casino whale
- a whale in a game
The casino gave the whale a free suite and private dinners.
A few whales pay for most of the game's income.
verbintransitiveold-fashioned
To hunt whales for oil or meat.
Grammar: Usually used as whaling in the historic sense.
Patterns
- go whaling
- whale off a coast
Sailors from the island whaled off the coast each summer.
In the nineteenth century, many ships left port to whale in the Pacific.
Word forms
| plural | whales |
|---|---|
| third person singular | whales |
| past tense | whaled |
| -ing form | whaling |
Common combinations
- blue whale
- A blue whale can weigh as much as thirty elephants.
- humpback whale
- A humpback whale leapt clear of the water.
- whale watching
- We went whale watching off the coast of Maine.
- a whale of a time
- The kids had a whale of a time at the water park.
- whale song
- Researchers recorded whale song deep in the ocean.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cetacean
- Cetacean is the scientific word covering whales, dolphins and porpoises, so it is broader than whale.
- leviathan
- Leviathan is a literary or biblical word for a sea monster or enormous whale, and is not used for scientific description.
- high roller
- High roller is the usual synonym for the gambling sense, and it sounds less like casino-industry slang than whale.
Word family
- whaling noun
- the hunting of whales
- whaler noun
- a person or ship that hunts whales
- whalebone noun
- the flexible plates in the mouths of some whales
Commonly confused: whale or wail? whale or wale?
whale vs wail
Wail is a verb meaning to cry out loudly in sorrow, and it sounds exactly like whale.
whale vs wale
A wale is a raised ridge on fabric or skin, spelled differently from whale though it sounds the same.
Practice
Which sentence uses the gambling sense of whale?
Choose one answer.
In casino talk a whale is a person who bets huge sums. The other sentences use the marine animal.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “whale”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.