Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A very large baleen whale (Balaenoptera musculus) having a bluish-gray back and grooves on the throat. It is thought to be the largest animal ever to have lived on earth, reaching a length of up to 32 meters (105 feet).
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
whale (Balaenoptera musculus), blue in color and the largest known livinganimal .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun largest mammal ever known; bluish-grey migratory whalebone whale mostly of southern hemisphere
Etymologies
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Examples
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Prolagus commented on the word blue whale
It's interesting to note that the blue whale and the house mouse share the specific name musculus (binomial names are respectively Balænoptera musculus and Mus musculus). Both names were chosen by Linnæus (Carl von Linné) in the XVIII century.
The word is a diminutive of Latin mus (mouse), so there is no need for explanation for using it for the house mouse. But what about blue whales?
The explanation relies on the fact that, in Latin, musculus also means muscle; and this is the meaning it has in the blue whale's scientific name.
Apparently, in the past, ...the shape and movement of some muscles (notably biceps) were thought to resemble mice... (From: Online Etymology Dictionary).
What is also interesting is that the same double meaning/common root is present in other languages: Greek, Armenian, German, Arabic.
April 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word blue whale
Come to think of it, blue whales do look a little mousy.
Mussels, not so much.
April 19, 2008
Prolagus commented on the word blue whale
Oh, well, I don't know which kind of blue whales you usually meet...
April 24, 2008