Oil obtained from whale-blubber.
1435–6. in Heath, Grocers’ Comp. (1869), 418. ii shippes of waloill, conteynyng xlviij.o iii. v. oyll.
c. 1580. in Engl. Hist. Rev. (1914), July, 520. Whale oyles that come frome newfound Land.
1672. Act 25 Chas. II., c. 7 § 4. Noe English built Shipp … importing Whale oyle or Blubber or other Fish, Oyle.
1712. trans. Pomet’s Hist. Drugs, I. 157. We have Oil of Camomile and Linseed … when Train or Whale-Oil is dear.
1896. Brannt, Anim. & Veg. Fats (ed. 2), II. 57. The pure whale oils, pale, brownish-yellow or brown.
attrib. 1853. Zoologist, XI. 4044. Syringing the young tree well with whale-oil-soap.
1885. Lizzie W. Champney, in Harper’s Mag., Feb., 368/2. Flavilla lit the great whale-oil lamp in the best room.
