whaling

IPA/ˈweɪlɪŋ/
KK[wˈelɪŋ]IPA/ˈweɪlɪŋ/

whaling — noun

1. the work or business of catching whales and preparing their meat, oil, and other

1.nounB2
Definition

the work or business of catching whales and preparing their meat, oil, and other products for human use

Example

The coastal town of St. Helena once depended almost entirely on whaling.

Commercial whaling was a major source of income for many port cities during the 1800s.

passive: was a major source of income for [place]

Common collocations
  • commercial whaling
  • whaling industry
  • whaling ban
  • whaling ship
  • whaling crew
  • whaling port
Synonyms
  • whale hunting

    more general, less associated with the commercial industry than 'whaling'

Common Mistakes

I saw whaling in the water.
I saw a whale in the water.
'whaling' is the activity of hunting whales, not the animal itself.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

'Whaling' refers specifically to the commercial industry of catching whales for their meat, oil, and bone — it implies organized hunting by crews on ships. 'Whale hunting' is a broader term that can describe any hunting of whales, including by indigenous communities for subsistence, and carries less of an industrial connotation. 'Whale fishery' is a historical term from the 18th–19th centuries that treated whales as a marine resource to be harvested, like a fishery. Today, 'whaling' is the most common term, especially in discussions of the international ban, while 'whale hunting' appears more in anthropological or historical accounts of small-scale practices.

whaling ↗whale huntingwhale fishery

Common collocations

Nouns

  • whaling industry
  • whaling ban
  • whaling ship
  • whaling boat
  • whaling fleet
  • whaling station
  • whaling port
  • whaling crew

Phrases

  • ban whaling
  • oppose whaling
  • whaling moratorium
  • commercial whaling

Etymology

Proto-GermanicOld EnglishEnglish

Formed from 'whale' (the large sea mammal, from Old English 'hwæl', of Germanic origin) plus the suffix '-ing', which turns a verb into a noun referring to an activity or its result. The word 'whaling' dates back to the early 1600s, when European nations began sending ships on long voyages to hunt whales for oil and baleen.

First known use

1688

1688, in the meaning defined above