Definify.com
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.