1.HBAa very large animal that lives in the sea and looks like a fish, but is actually a mammal 鲸
2.have a whale of a timeinformalENJOY/LIKE DOING something to enjoy yourself very much 玩得非常愉快
nCOLLOCATIONS
adjectives
a beached/stranded whale (=one that is stuck on land)
The beached whales are quite obviously very distressed.
verbs
go whale-watching
You can go whale watching off the coast.
hunt whales
Some countries continue to hunt whales, even though they have no real use for them and the whales are in danger of extinction.
save the whales
Greenpeace campaigns to save the whales.
a whale breaches (=comes up through the surface of the water)
He got a picture of a whale breaching, with droplets of water glittering in the sun.
phrases
a school/pod of whales (=a group of whales)
A school of sperm whales was sighted.
whale + NOUN
whale music/song (=sounds made by whales)
Scientists believe that whale song is used to communicate.
whale oil (=fat from whales that has been made into oil)
Whale oil was used in lamps.
whale meat
Whale meat was once part of the local people's diet.
whale blubber (=fat from whales)
Examples from the Corpus
whale• In fact the Minke whale, the smallest species, has always been hunted with a non-explosive grenade.• The Minke whales, which are numerous, should be culled because they are impeding the recovery of the endangeredBlueWhale.• So these particular species of bat or whale are living and working in a sonar world.• But he forgot his naturaltalents such as hunting and speaking to other whales.• Up to this point Ishmael has told us a good deal about the great spermwhale.• There the whales deliberately tilt the floes so that sealsslide off into the water and into the jaws of their attackers.• The only trouble was, the whalessank when killed.• Echolocation, too, plays an important role in food hunting for dolphins and toothedwhales.
whale2 verb [intransitiveI]American EnglishAmE
whale into/on somebody/somethingATTACKto starthitting someone or something 开始攻击某人/某物
Originwhale1
Old Englishhwæl
whale2
(1700-1800) Perhaps from wale“to mark someone's skin by hitting them”((15-20 centuries)), from wale“weal”; → WEAL