What is "whale"

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. Note: The existing whales are divided into two groups: the toothed whales ( Odontocete), including those that have teeth, as the cachalot, or sperm whale (see Sperm whale); and the baleen, or whalebone, whales ( Mysticete), comprising those that are destitute of teeth, but have plates of baleen hanging from the upper jaw, as the right whales. The most important species of whalebone whales are the bowhead, or Greenland, whale (see Illust. of Right whale), the Biscay whale, the Antarctic whale, the gray whale (see under Gray), the humpback, the finback, and the rorqual. Whale bird. (Zo["o]l.)

1. Any one of several species of large Antarctic petrels which follow whaling vessels, to feed on the blubber and floating oil; especially, Prion turtur (called also blue petrel), and Pseudoprion desolatus.

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 (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of degraded amphipod crustaceans belonging to the genus Cyamus, especially Cyamus ceti. They are parasitic on various cetaceans. Whale's bone, ivory. [Obs.] Whale shark. (Zo["o]l.)

   1. The basking, or liver, shark.

   2. 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 (Zo["o]l.), a balanoglossus.

Old English hwæl "whale," also "walrus," from Proto-Germanic *hwalaz (cognates: Old Saxon hwal, Old Norse hvalr, hvalfiskr, Swedish val, Middle Dutch wal, walvisc, Dutch walvis, Old High German wal, German Wal), from PIE *(s)kwal-o- (cognates: Latin squalus "a kind of large sea fish"). Phrase whale of a "excellent or large example" is c.1900, student slang. Whale-oil attested from mid-15c.

"beat, whip severely," 1790, possibly a variant of wale (v.) "to mark with 'wales' or stripes" (early 15c.), from wale (n.). Related: Whaled; whaling.

"pursue the business of whale-fishing," 1700, from whale (n.). Whale-fishing is attested from 1570s.

n. Any of several species of large sea mammals of the order Cetace

1. v

2. 1 (context intransitive English) To hunt for whales. 2 (context transitive English) To flog, to beat.

v. hunt for whales

1. n. a very large person; impressive in size or qualities [syn: giant, hulk, heavyweight]

2. any of the larger cetacean mammals having a streamlined body and breathing through a blowhole on the head

Whale is an English surname of unclear origin; however, it could be a derivation of Walh, a word generally used by Anglo-Saxon colonists to refer to native Britons, Romans or Celts after the Anglo-Saxon conquest of England. The Avebury stone circle, in Wiltshire, itself was referred to as waledich in the 13th century, a name still in use, as walldich, as late as 1696. Waledich literally means ‘ditch of the wealas’.

According to the 1841 census of England, there are three main pockets of the surname; Avebury in Wiltshire, Southampton in Hampshire, and Dudley, then in Worcestershire.

People with the surname include:

• George Whale (1842–1910), English locomotive engineer
• James Whale (1889-1957), English film director, theatre director and actor
• James Whale (radio) (born 1951), English broadcaster for radio and television
• Robert R. Whale (1805–1887), English/Canadian painter

Whale is an outdoor wooden sculpture of a whale, located in Cannon Beach, Oregon, United States.

"Whale" is a song recorded by the Welsh band Catatonia, as a non-album release on the Rough Trade Records label. It later appeared on the compilation album The Sublime Magic of Catatonia, and was re-recorded for Catatonia's first studio album, Way Beyond Blue.

Whale is the common name for a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. They are an informal grouping within the infraorder Cetacea, usually excluding dolphins and porpoises. Whales, dolphins and porpoises belong to the order Cetartiodactyla with even-toed ungulates and their closest living relatives are the hippopotamuses, having diverged about 40 million years ago. The two parvorders of whales, baleen whales (Mysticeti) and toothed whales (Odontoceti), are thought to have split apart around 34 million years ago. The whales comprise eight extant families: Balaenopteridae (the rorquals), Balaenidae (right whales), Cetotheriidae (the pygmy right whale), Eschrichtiidae (the gray whale), Monodontidae (belugas and narwhals), Physeteridae (the sperm whale), Kogiidae (the dwarf and pygmy sperm whale), and Ziphiidae (the beaked whales).

Whales are creatures of the open ocean; they feed, mate, give birth, suckle and raise their young at sea. So extreme is their adaptation to life underwater that they are unable to survive on land. Whales range in size from the and dwarf sperm whale to the and blue whale, which is the largest creature that has ever lived. The sperm whale is the largest toothed predator on earth. Several species exhibit sexual dimorphism, in that the females are larger than males. Baleen whales have no teeth; instead they have plates of baleen, a fringe-like structure used to expel water while retaining the krill and plankton which they feed on. They use their throat pleats to expand the mouth to take in huge gulps of water. Balaenids have heads that can make up 40% of their body mass to take in water. Toothed whales, on the other hand, have conical teeth designed for catching fish or squid. Baleen whales have a well developed sense of "smell", whereas toothed whales have well-developed hearing − their hearing, that is adapted for both air and water, is so well developed that some can survive even if they are blind. Some species, such as sperm whales, are well adapted for diving to great depths to catch squid and other favoured prey.

Whales have evolved from land-living mammals. As such they must breathe air regularly, though they can remain submerged for long periods. They have blowholes (modified nostrils) located on top of their heads, through which air is taken in and expelled in the form of vapour. They are warm-blooded, and have a layer of fat, or blubber, under the skin. With streamlined fusiform bodies and two limbs that are modified into flippers, whales can travel at up to 20 knots, though they are not as flexible or agile as seals. Whales produce a great variety of vocalizations, notably the extended songs of the humpback whale. Although whales are widespread, most species prefer the colder waters of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, and migrate to the equator to give birth. Species such as humpbacks and blue whales are capable of travelling thousands of miles without feeding. Males typically mate with multiple females every year, but females only mate every two to three years. Calves are typically born in the spring and summer months and females bear all the responsibility for raising them. Mothers of some species fast and nurse their young for a relatively long period of time.

Once relentlessly hunted for their products, whales are now protected by international law. The North Atlantic right whales nearly became extinct in the twentieth century, with a population low of 450, and the North Pacific gray whale population is ranked Critically Endangered by the IUCN. Besides whaling, they also face threats from bycatch and marine pollution. The meat, blubber and baleen of whales have traditionally been used by indigenous peoples of the Arctic. Whales have been depicted in various cultures worldwide, notably by the Inuit and the coastal peoples of Vietnam and Ghana, who sometimes hold whale funerals. Whales occasionally feature in literature and film, as in the great white whale of Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Small whales, such as belugas, are sometimes kept in captivity and trained to perform tricks, but breeding success has been poor and the animals often die within a few months of capture. Whale watching has become a form of tourism around the world.

Whale was a Swedish alternative rock group in the 1990s.

A whale is a sea mammal.

Whale or The Whale may also refer to:

The Whale virus is a computer virus discovered on July 1, 1990. The file size, at 9,216 bytes, was for its time the largest virus ever discovered. It is known for using several advanced "stealth" methods.

The WHALE Program is a child safety program focused on rescue workers and automobile accidents. W.H.A.L.E. stands for “We Have A Little Emergency.” This car seat safety program was developed by Connie Day, a caregiver from Virginia. In the event of an automobile accident that incapacitates the adult driver and passengers, rescue personnel will have a difficult time identifying children riding in car safety seats. In some situations, these adults may not be related to the child passenger; therefore, conventional means of obtaining information will be useless. In these cases, W.H.A.L.E. can make a significant difference.

Whale ( / Kit) is a 1970 Bulgarian satirical comedy film directed by Petar B. Vasilev and written by Cheremuhin. The film stars Georgi Kaloyanchev, Dimitar Panov, Georgi Partsalev, Grigor Vachkov and Tsvyatko Nikolov.

This film had one of the most scandalous and at the same time mythological destiny in the history of the Bulgarian cinema. It was filmed in 1967 but didn't released until 1970 when was shown at few small cinema halls as an expurgated by the communist authority edition. Wale satirize the extant defects in the economic and social structure of the state of those years. Moreover the film unambiguous specify the exact carriers of the negative effects. The shooting mark is the bureaucratic pathos at the different ruling levels. The pathos by means of which various data and information are manipulated in the name of non-existing achievements.

In the film was born one of the most popular quotes in the Bulgarian cinema: