different between whale vs cetaceous

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: w?l, IPA^(key): /we?l/
• (without the wine–whine merger) enPR: hw?l, IPA^(key): /?e?l/
• Rhymes: -e?l
• Homophones: wail, wale (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Etymology 1

From Middle English whale, from Old English hwæl (“whale”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwal, from Proto-Germanic *hwalaz (“whale”) (compare German Wal, Swedish val, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hval, Norwegian Nynorsk kval; compare also Dutch walvis, West Frisian walfisk, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)k?álos (“sheatfish”) (compare German Wels, Latin squalus (“big sea fish”), Old Prussian kalis, Ancient Greek ??????? (áspalos), Avestan ????????????????? (kara, “kind of fish”)).

Noun

whale (plural whales)

1. Any one of numerous large marine mammals comprising an informal group within infraorder Cetacea that usually excludes dolphins and porpoises.

   Synonym: (obsolete) baleen

2. (by extension) Any species of Cetacea.
3. (figuratively) Something, or someone, that is very large.
   • 1920 September, “A Reformed Free Lance” (pseudonym), “Doctoring a Sick Encyclopedia”, in The Writer, Volume XXXII, Number 9, page 131:

     It was a whale of a job. […] It took two months, and the fair blush of youth off my cheeks.

   • 1947 May 19, John Chamberlain, “Will Clayton and his Problem”, in Life, page 120:

     But when it comes to his business life and business career, Will Clayton is not as other men; he is such a whale of a lot better that it suggests a qualitative as well as a quantitative difference.

4. (figuratively, as "whale of a ___") Something, or someone, that is excellent.
   • 2002, Kathleen Benson, Philip M. Kayal, Museum of the City of New York, A Community of Many Worlds: Arab Americans in New York City, Syracuse University Press ?ISBN, page 54

     My own father only wrote one poem in his life as far as I know, but it was a whale of a lyric, the kind you would give your whole life to write, which he did, but that is another story.

   • 2006, June Skinner Sawyers, Read the Beatles: Classic and New Writings on the Beatles, Their Legacy, and Why They Still Matter, Penguin ?ISBN

     Busley Crowther in The New York Times called it “a whale of a comedy” even though he couldn't tell the four musicians apart except for Ringo (“the big-nosed one”).

   • 2013, Fred Holtby & Chris Lovie, ROWDY - THE STORY OF A POLICE DOG, Lulu.com ?ISBN, page 105

     They were having a whale of a time when a very stern looking shop assistant came over to tell them off.

6. (gambling) In a casino, a person who routinely bets at the maximum limit allowable.
7. (finance, informal) An investor who deals with very large amounts of money.
8. (video games, by extension) A video game player who spends large amounts of money on optional content.

Derived terms

Related terms

• narwhal
• rorqual
• walrus

Translations

See also

Verb

whale (third-person singular simple present whales, present participle whaling, simple past and past participle whaled)

1. (intransitive) To hunt for whales.

Translations

References

• whale on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Cetacea on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Cetacea on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Etymology 2

Uncertain. Perhaps a variant of wale influenced by whack, whap, etc.

Verb

whale (third-person singular simple present whales, present participle whaling, simple past and past participle whaled)

1. (slang, transitive) To thrash, to flog, to beat vigorously or soundly.
   • 1852, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Why Mr Sellum disposed of the horse (chapter XIV in Works, volume 22):

     Brought him back, put him in the stall—low stable—got out of his reach, and then begun to whale him. Then he kicked up agin; […]

   • 1865 May, Three Days at Camp Douglass, in Our Young Folks: An Illustrated Magazine for Boys and Girls, volume I, number V, page 296:

     "I wouldn't let him. When you were a boy in your part of the country, and other boys told tales about you, what did you do with them?" "Whaled 'em like time, Captin'," answered the man; "and if ye'll only shet yer eyes to 't, I'll whale him." "I can't allow such things in the prison," said the Captain; "and besides, the fellow will be lame for a fortnight, and wouldn't be a match for you in that condition. Let him get limber, and then, if you don't whale him, I'll make you walk the ladder for a month." The result was, the conscript officer received a sound thrashing; and did not commit another act worthy of punishment for a week.

   • 2004, Steve Frazee, Voices in the Hill (?ISBN):

     They beat him down and kept whaling him after he was flat.

   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:whale.

Derived terms

• whale on

Translations

Anagrams

• wheal

Middle English

Alternative forms

• hwæl, qual, whal, swale, quall, quale, whaale, whalle, qwayll, wale, qwall, qwalle

Etymology

Inherited from Old English hwæl, from Proto-West Germanic *hwal, from Proto-Germanic *hwalaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a?l/, /?al/
• (dialectal) IPA^(key): /wa?l/, /x?a?l/

Noun

whale (plural whales)

1. A whale or cetacean.
2. (rare) An oceanic monster.
3. (rare) The meat of the whale.

Descendants

• English: whale
• Scots: whaul

References

• “wh?le, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-01.

English

Etymology

Cetacea +? -ous

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -e???s

Adjective

cetaceous (not comparable)

1. Relating to whales or more generally to any marine mammal of the order Cetacea.