Whaler

/ˈweɪlə/ · noun

Meaning

One who hunts whales; any person employed in the whaling industry..

Definitions by Sense

1. One who hunts whales; any person employed in the whaling industry.
2. (nautical) A seagoing vessel used for hunting whales.
3. One who whales (flogs or beats).
4. (slang) A large, strong person.
5. (slang) Something of unusually great size, a whopper, a whacker.
6. (Australia) Any shark of the family Carcharhinidae; a requiem shark.
7. (Australia, slang, dated) A sundowner; one who cruises about.

Example Sentences

Near-synonym: whaleman

For a whaler's wife to have been “ 'round the Cape” half a dozen times, or even more, was nothing extraordinary.

Whalers have always overexploited their stocks, driving them to commercial extinction.[…]American whalers, operating at first from the coast and later in sea-going boats, took about 200 000 right whales in addition to humpbacks and grays.

The whalers brought a new way of life. They brought a chance for travel. Many Chamorros traveled to London and the United States. Over eight hundred Chamorro whalers settled in Honolulu.

Near-synonym: whaleship

But o' Thursday t' Resolution, first whaler back this season, came in port.

Making myself at home with him, I desired to know what brought him so far from the "big smoke," and on board a whaler of all places in the world.

The log of the Emily Morgan, an American whaler that visited Guam many times, described Spanish control:[…].

Synonyms for whaler

Antonyms for whaler

Related Words

Word Forms

• whalers

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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