[f. WHALE sb. + FISHING vbl. sb.] The occupation of taking whales, whaling.
1580. in Hakluyt, Voy. (1589), 460. To the end we may turne our new found land fishing or Island fishing or our whale-fishing that way.
1699. T. Allison, Voy. Archangel, 109. A Flemish Fly-boat bound to Greenland, for Whale-fishing.
1722. Elking, View Greenland Trade (1859), 95. We can … carry on the whale-fishing trade … much cheaper than the Hollanders.
1820. Scoresby, Acc. Arctic Reg., I. 257. Ice becomes exceedingly fragile towards the close of the whale-fishing season.
1829. C. Edwardes, Sardinia, xviii. 345. The industry [of tunny-fishing] is as speculative as whale-fishing or silver-mining.
