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. See sperm 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

[French, from Spanish or Portuguese cachalote, augmentative of cachola, big head.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French cachalot.

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Examples

Comments

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  • 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

  • I suppose they do cachalot of squid.

    March 20, 2024