sb. Forms: see WHALE sb. and BONE sb.; also 4 huelbon, 7 whel-, whal-, whealbone, quhallbon; (in sense 1) whales bone, etc.
† 1. Ivory from the walrus or some similar animal confused with the whale: chiefly in phr. white as whale’s bone. Obs.
c. 1205. Lay., 2363. Þe walles of stone, þe duren of whales bone [c. 1275 wales bone].
a. 1310. in Wright, Lyric P., xi. 38. A wayle whyt as whalles bon.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., A. 212. Her ble more blaȝt þen whallez bon.
a. 1400. Sqr. lowe Degre, 537. Lady, as whyte as whales bone.
1467[?]. Paston Lett., II. 298. But yef ye purposid to falle hastely in my Lady Anne P. lappe, as white as whales bon, &c.
c. 1520. Skelton, Garl. Laurel, 472. An hundred steppis mountyng to the halle, One of iasper, another of whalis bone.
1567. Turberv., Epit., etc., 138. Hir Mouth so small, hir Teeth so white as any Whale his bone.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 332. This is the flower that smiles on euerie one, To shew his teeth as white as Whales bone.
1590. Greene, Never too Late, Wks. (Grosart), VIII. 213. Legges as white as whales bone.
1610. Tofte, Hon. Acad., IV. 162. Her hands were white, as Whale his bone.
1848. Kingsley, Saint’s Trag., III. i. Purer than white whales’ bone.
β. 13[?]. Coer de L., 62. All it was whyt of huel-bon.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 3055. Alse qwyte & qwem as any qwalle bon.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xxi. 46. Toungis now are maid of quhyte quhaill bone, And hairtis ar maid of hard flynt stone.
2. The elastic horny substance that grows in a series of thin parallel plates in the upper jaw of certain whales in place of teeth; baleen: used esp. for stiffening parts of the dress, etc.
Formerly supposed to be obtained from the whale’s fins.
1604. Lismore Papers, Ser. II. (1887), I. 107. For whelbone to ye bodes ixd.
1613. Voy. Spitzbergen, in Archæol. Amer. (1860), IV. 311. They cut of his head, containing his toung and his finnes, commonlie called whalbone.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 127, ¶ 4. A Female who is thus invested in Whale-bone is sufficiently secured against the Approaches of an ill-bred Fellow.
1712. Budgell, ibid., 277, ¶ 8. The Petticoat has no Whale-bone.
1820. Scoresby, Acc. Arctic Reg., I. 457. Fifteen feet is the greatest length of the whalebone.
1878. J. W. Hayes, Draper & Haberd. (ed. 4), 87. Stay Whalebone is prepared and cut into suitable lengths for corsets. Ibid. Dress Whalebone is sold in lengths varying between 27 in. and 54 in.
1887. Ruskin, Præterita, II. xi. 390. At a Christmas party, [she] acted any part—that depended on whalebone [i.e., stays]—admirably.
3. A strip of whalebone, esp. used as stiffening in women’s stays, dresses, etc.
1601. [? Marston], Jack Drums Entert., IV. F 4. Oh I could crack my Whalebones, breake my Buske, to think what laughter may arise from this.
a. 1635. Corbet, Iter Bor., 391. She was barr’d up in Whale-bones that did leese None of the Whales length, for they reach’d her knees.
1674. trans. Scheffer’s Lapland, 107. If they fish with a Cane or Whale-bone, the fisher never knows when the fish bites, but pulls up at a venture.
1712–4. Pope, Rape Lock, V. 40. Fans clap, silks rustle, and tough whalebones crack.
1871. Figure Training, 106. In order to insure a good fit, and to keep it perfectly in place, the busk in front, and the whalebones behind, are made somewhat longer than the present fashion.
b. A riding-whip of whalebone.
1842. Lover, Handy Andy, iii. Smarting under a sense of injury and whalebone.
1867. A. L. Gordon, Poems (1912), 96. Ah! there goes Fred’s whalebone a flanker.
4. The jaw-bone of a whale. (Cf. G. walfischbein.)
1846. R. E. E. Warburton, Hunting Songs, viii. 25. Where ’twixt the whalebones the widow [sc. Maria Hollingsworth, a German by birth] sat down.
5. attrib. and Comb., as whalebone-cutter, -kind, -man; whalebone-hair, the hairy fringe of whalebone; whalebone-tree, an Australian urticaceous tree, Pseudomorus brunoniana; whalebone-whale, a whale of the family Balænidæ, having plates of whalebone developed from the palate instead of teeth; a right whale.
1761. Brit. Mag., II. 672. Philip Benton, of Gainsborough,… *whalebone-cutter and merchant.
1820. Scoresby, Acc. Arctic Reg., II. 451. Large shreds of old thin canvas, *whalebone hair, and a quantity of ashes.
1708. J. Chamberlayne, St. Gt. Brit., II. I. iii. (1743), 331. Great whales of the Baleen, or *whale bone kind.
a. 1637. B. Jonson, Underwoods, lx. Wks. (1641), 208. The *whale-bone man That quilts those bodies, I have leave to span.
1889. Maiden, Useful Pl. Australia, 591. Pseudomorus Brunoniana,… called *Whalebone Tree in Southern New South Wales.
1725. *Whalebone whale [see WHILE sb. 1 b (b)].
1843. Penny Cycl., XXVII. 272/2. The Toothless or Whalebone Whales.
b. as adj. Stiffened with strips of whalebone; made of or containing whalebone; also fig., ‘stiff,’ affected.
1601. B. Jonson, Poetaster, II. i. (1905), 28. Your whale-bone-bodies.
1603. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 31. Ane par of quhalibon bodis.
1650. Bulwer, Anthropomet., 193. And to that end … shut up their Wastes in a Whale-bone prison.
1711. Swift, Jrnl. to Stella, 10 Nov. Have you got the whalebone petticoats among you yet?… a woman here may hide a moderate gallant under them.
17[?]. in Lyra Elegant. (1867), I. 3. Last Sunday at St. James’s prayers I, drest in all my whale-bone airs.
1802. Maria Edgeworth, Moral T., Good Fr. Gov. A few words in defence of sacks, long waists, and whalebone stays.
1807. W. Irving, Salmag., No. 6 (1811), I. 119. A plentiful stock of whims, and oddities, and whalebone habits.
1866. Le Fanu, All in Dark, lxviii. To make his bow before the world in the picturesque long robe and whalebone wig which everyone of taste admires.
1908. [Eliz. Fowler], Betw. Trent & Ancholme, 382. A light umbrella was one not made with whalebone ribs.
Hence Whaleboned pa. pple. and ppl. a., stiffened with whalebone.
1641. J. Day, Parl. Bees (1881), 29. Such whale-bon’d-bodied rascals.
1835. Court Mag., VI. p. vii/2. A mantelet … wadded, rounded at the sides, and whaleboned in such a manner as to prevent it from crushing the dress.
1908. Edith Wharton, Hermit, etc. IV. 150. A laced, whaleboned, frizzle-headed, high-heeled daughter of iniquity.
