From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishwhalewhale1 /weɪl/ ●●○ noun [countable] 1 HBAa very large animal that lives in the sea and looks like a fish, but is actually a mammal2 → have a whale of a timeCOLLOCATIONSadjectivesa beached/stranded whale (=one that is stuck on land)The beached whales are quite obviously very distressed.verbsgo whale-watchingYou can go whale watching off the coast. hunt whalesSome countries continue to hunt whales, even though they have no real use for them and the whales are in danger of extinction.save the whalesGreenpeace campaigns to save the whales. a whale breaches (=comes up through the surface of the water)He got a picture of a whale breaching, with droplets of water glittering in the sun.phrasesa school/pod of whales (=a group of whales)A school of sperm whales was sighted.whale + NOUNwhale music/song (=sounds made by whales)Scientists believe that whale song is used to communicate.whale oil (=fat from whales that has been made into oil)Whale oil was used in lamps.whale meatWhale meat was once part of the local people's diet.whale blubber (=fat from whales)
Examples from the Corpus
whale• In fact the Minke whale, the smallest species, has always been hunted with a non-explosive grenade.• The Minke whales, which are numerous, should be culled because they are impeding the recovery of the endangered Blue Whale.• So these particular species of bat or whale are living and working in a sonar world.• But he forgot his natural talents such as hunting and speaking to other whales.• Up to this point Ishmael has told us a good deal about the great sperm whale.• There the whales deliberately tilt the floes so that seals slide off into the water and into the jaws of their attackers.• The only trouble was, the whales sank when killed.• Echolocation, too, plays an important role in food hunting for dolphins and toothed whales.whalewhale2 verb [intransitive] American English → whale into/on somebody/something→ See Verb tableOrigin whale1 Old English hwæl whale2 (1700-1800) Perhaps from wale “to mark someone's skin by hitting them” ((15-20 centuries)), from wale “weal”; → WEAL 