Meanings
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1
noun
A very large mammal that lives in the sea and breathes air through a hole on top of its head.
We watched a huge whale rise to the surface and blow a jet of water into the air.
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2
noun
A person who gambles or spends extremely large amounts of money.
The casino rolled out the red carpet for the whale who bet thousands on every hand.
Thesaurus
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)kʷálos Proto-Germanic *hwalaz Proto-West Germanic *hwal Old English hwæl Middle English whal English whale From Middle English whal, 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)kʷálos (“sheatfish”) (compare German Wels, Latin squalus (“big sea fish”), Old Prussian kalis, Ancient Greek ἄσπαλος (áspalos), Avestan 𐬐𐬀𐬭𐬀 (kara,…