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Webster 1913 Edition

Baleen

Ba-leen′

(bȧ-lēn′)
,
Noun.
[F.
baleine
whale and whalebone, L.
balaena
a whale; cf. Gr.
φάλαινα
. ]
(Zool. & Com.)
Plates or blades of “whalebone,” from two to twelve feet long, and sometimes a foot wide, which in certain whales (
Balænoidea
) are attached side by side along the upper jaw, and form a fringelike sieve by which the food is retained in the mouth.

Definition 2024

baleen

baleen

English

Noun

baleen ‎(countable and uncountable, plural baleens)

  1. (physiology, uncountable) The bony material that makes up the plates in the mouth of the baleen whale, Mysticeti, which it uses to trap its food; formerly used in corsetry
    • 1954, Alexander Alderson, chapter 5, in The Subtle Minotaur:
      “You have probably never seen anything like this before, Mr. Toler. It is baleen, or if you prefer it, whalebone, taken from the mouth of the bowhead whale. It is used by the whale to filter its food.”
  2. (zoology, countable) a baleen whale

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Spanish

Verb

baleen

  1. Second-person plural (ustedes) imperative form of balear.
  2. Second-person plural (ustedes) present subjunctive form of balear.
  3. Third-person plural (ellos, ellas, also used with ustedes?) present subjunctive form of balear.

Etymology

From Old French baleine ‎(“whale, whalebone”), from Latin balaena ‎(“whale”), from Ancient Greek φάλαινα ‎(phálaina, “whale”).

Pronunciation

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