Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A name of the sperm-whale, Physeter or Catodon macrocephalus, a large, toothed cetacean of the family Physeteridæ or Catodontiæ, having teeth in the lower jaw, and an enormous blunt head, in a cavity of which spermaceti is contained, and sometimes attaining a length Of 80 feet.
- noun plural The sperm-whales as a family of cetaceans; the Physeteridæ.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) The sperm whale (
Physeter macrocephalus ). It has in the top of its head a large cavity, containing an oily fluid, which, after death, concretes into a whitish crystalline substance called spermaceti. Seesperm whale .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The
sperm whale .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun large whale with a large cavity in the head containing spermaceti and oil; also a source of ambergris
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The cachalot is a disagreeable creature, more tadpole than fish, according to
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No one could better describe the macrocephalous cachalot, which is sometimes more than seventy-five feet long.
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The cachalot is a disagreeable creature, more tadpole than fish, according to Fredol's description.
Vingt mille lieues sous les mers. English Jules Verne 1866
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No one could better describe the macrocephalous cachalot, which is sometimes more than seventy-five feet long.
Vingt mille lieues sous les mers. English Jules Verne 1866
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The Abraham Lincoln checked its speed and made for the animal signalled, a simple whale, or common cachalot, which soon disappeared amidst a storm of abuse.
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One cachalot killed, it ran at the next, tacked on the spot that it might not miss its prey, going forwards and backwards, answering to its helm, plunging when the cetacean dived into the deep waters, coming up with it when it returned to the surface, striking it front or sideways, cutting or tearing in all directions and at any pace, piercing it with its terrible spur.
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But as perhaps fifty of these whale-bone whales are harpooned for one cachalot, some philosophers of the forecastle have concluded that this positive havoc has already very seriously diminished their battalions.
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Having in our turn described to him our adventure with the cachalot whale, I asked him if he knew of a suitable spot for the anchorage of the yacht.
Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 3 Charles Herbert Sylvester
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The mystery was explained; for, as the great beast emerged yet further from the water, I recognized, from its enormous size and great length of head, the cachalot whale.
Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 3 Charles Herbert Sylvester
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There are three kinds of whale; the Greenland, called by the sailors the right whale, as being most highly prized by them; the great northern rorqual, called by fishers the razor-back or finner, and the cachalot or spermaciti whale.
qms commented on the word cachalot
An unhappy sperm can trash a yacht;
Those fierce white teeth can gnash a lot.
Recall Ahab's leg,
That cold wooden peg
He got for offending a cachalot.
August 30, 2015
bilby commented on the word cachalot
I suppose they do cachalot of squid.
March 20, 2024