baleen whale

baleen whale

n. Any of several usually large cetaceans of the suborder Mysticeti, having two blowholes and whalebone plates instead of teeth, and including the humpback whale and the right whales. Also called mysticete, whalebone whale.

baleen whale

n (Animals) another name for whalebone 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.

baleen whale - whale with plates of whalebone along the upper jaw for filtering plankton from the waterwhalebone 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