whalebone whale

whalebone whale

n. See baleen whale.

whalebone whale

n (Animals) any whale belonging to the cetacean suborder Mysticeti, having a double blowhole and strips of whalebone between the jaws instead of teeth: includes the rorquals, right whales, and the blue whale. Compare toothed whale

whale′bone whale`

n. any toothless whale of the suborder Mysticeti, having plates of whalebone in the mouth. Also called baleen whale. [1715–25]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

whalebone whale - whale with plates of whalebone along the upper jaw for filtering plankton from the waterbaleen whalewhale - any of the larger cetacean mammals having a streamlined body and breathing through a blowhole on the headMysticeti, suborder Mysticeti - baleen whales: right whales; rorquals; blue whales; humpbacksright whale - large Arctic whalebone whale; allegedly the `right' whale to hunt because of its valuable whalebone and oilBalaena mysticetus, bowhead, bowhead whale, Greenland whale - large-mouthed Arctic whalerorqual, razorback - any of several baleen whales of the family Balaenopteridae having longitudinal grooves on the throat and a small pointed dorsal finBalaenoptera musculus, blue whale, sulfur bottom - largest mammal ever known; bluish-grey migratory whalebone whale mostly of southern hemispherehumpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, humpback - large whalebone whale with long flippers noted for arching or humping its back as it divesdevilfish, Eschrichtius gibbosus, Eschrichtius robustus, gray whale, grey whale - medium-sized greyish-black whale of the northern Pacific