white whale
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white whale
- /waɪt ˈweɪl/
- /ʍaɪt ˈʍeɪl/
Rhymes with -eɪl
Where it comes from
From white + whale. The figurative senses refer to the novel Moby-Dick (1851) by the American writer Herman Melville (1819–1891), in which Captain Ahab relentlessly pursues a rare albino sperm whale.
noun white whales
-
Synonym of beluga (“the beluga whale, Delphinapterus leucas, a cetacean found in the Arctic Ocean”)
The English called the beluga the "white whale", a name often still used (and not to be confused with the white whale of Moby-Dick, which was an albino sperm whale).
Similar: melonhead, sea canary, beluga
- Any whale of the family Monodontidae, which comprises the beluga whales and narwhals (Monodon monoceros), and some extinct species.
- An obsession, a monomania. No … no sapphires. It looks like Lester Velasquez was chasing his white whale. There never were any sapphires inside that diner.
- A printing plate, used to manufacture a particular sports card, that is then issued as a collectible itself.
Talk about this word "white whale." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/white%20whale. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. white whale. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/white%20whale "white whale." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/white%20whale.Cite this
@misc{white_whale_2026,
title = {white whale},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/white%20whale},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
