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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



11 words match “SPERM WHALE”

SPERM WHALE n.
in the warmer parts of all the oceans. Called also cachalot, and spermaceti whale. Pygmy sperm whale (Zoöl.), a small whale (Kogia breviceps), seldom twenty feet long, native of tropical seas, but occasionally found on the American coast. Called also snub-nosed cachalot. -- Sperm-whale porpoise (Zoöl.), a toothed cet…
AMBERGRIS n.
n and other parts of the tropics, and also as a morbid secretion in the intestines of the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus), which is believed to be in all cases its true origin. In color it is white, ash-gray, yellow, or black, and often variegated like marble. The floating masses are sometimes from sixty to two hu…
CACHALOT n.
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.
CETACEA n.
ive the small animals upon which they feed. (b) The Denticete, including the dolphins and sperm whale, which have teeth. Another suborder (Zeuglodontia) is extinct. The Sirenia were formerly included in the Cetacea, but are now made a separate order.
DENTICETE n.
The division of Cetacea in which the teeth are developed, including the sperm whale, dolphins, etc.
ODONTOCETE n.
A subdivision of Cetacea, including the sperm whale, dolphins, etc.; the toothed whales.
PHYSETER n.
The genus that includes the sperm whale.
SNUB-NOSED a.
nose, slightly turned up; as, the snub- nosed eel. Snub-nosed cachalot (Zoöl.), the pygmy sperm whale.
SPERM n.
i. Sperm oil, a fatty oil found as a liquid, with spermaceti, in the head cavities of the sperm whale. -- Sperm whale. (Zoöl.) See in the Vocabulary.
SPERMACETI n.
A white waxy substance obtained from cavities in the head of the sperm whale, and used making candles, oilments, cosmetics, etc. It consists essentially of ethereal salts of palmitic acid with ethal and other hydrocarbon bases. The substance of spermaceti after the removal of certain impurities is sometimes called ceti…
WHITE HORSE n.
A large mass of tough sinewy substance in the head of sperm whales, just above the upper jaw and extending in streaks into the junk above it. It resembles blubber, but contains no oil. Also, the part of the head in which it occurs.