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cachalot

(Encyclopedia)cachalot: see sperm whale.

harpoon

(Encyclopedia)harpoon härpo͞onˈ [key], weapon used for spearing whales and large fish. The early type was a flat triangular piece of metal with barbed edges and a socket for attaching a wooden handle, to the end...

leviathan

(Encyclopedia)leviathan lēvīˈəthən [key], in the Bible, aquatic monster, presumably the crocodile, the whale, or a dragon. It was a symbol of evil to be ultimately defeated by the power of good. ...

grampus

(Encyclopedia)grampus, name applied to two members of the dolphin family (Delphinidae): Grampus griseus, also known as Risso's dolphin, of worldwide distribution, and Orcinus orca, also known as the killer whale. ...

porpoise

(Encyclopedia)porpoise, small whale of the family Phocaenidae, allied to the dolphin. Porpoises, like other whales, are mammals; they are warm-blooded, breathe air, and give birth to live young, which they suckle w...

spermaceti

(Encyclopedia)spermaceti spûrˈməsēˈtē [key], solid waxy substance, white, odorless, and tasteless, separated from the oils obtained from the sperm whale (see sperm oil) and other marine mammals. A mixture of ...

ambergris

(Encyclopedia)ambergris ămˈbərgrēs [key], waxlike substance originating as a morbid concretion in the intestine of the sperm whale. Lighter than water, it is found floating on tropical seas or cast up on the sh...

Stamford, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Stamford, city (1990 pop. 108,056), Fairfield co., SW Conn., on Long Island Sound; settled 1641, inc. 1893 as a city within the town of Stamford (the two were consolidated in 1949). A variety of light...

narwhal

(Encyclopedia)narwhal närˈwəl [key], a small arctic whale, Monodon monoceros. The males of the species, and an occasional female, bear a single, tightly spiraled tusk that measures up to 9 ft (2.7 m) in length. ...

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