Forms; 4–6 baleyne, 4–5 balayn(e, 4 6 balene, 5 -ien, 6 ballane, ballen, 7 balæne, 8– baleen. [ME. baleyne, -ayne, a. OF. baleine, -aine whale, whalebone:—L. balæna whale.]
† 1. A whale. Obs.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls Ser.), I. xli. Baleynes, grete fisches as hit were of whales kynde.
c. 1450. in Wright’s Voc. (W.), /704. Balena, a balene.
c. 1480. Caxton, Ovid’s Met., XII. xv. Balaynes or whales, dolphins, mermaydes … and alle other fyshes.
1572. Bossewell, Armorie, II. 65. Balene is a fishe greate and huge.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 238. From the forehead, in the Balænes.
2. ? The fish called Sea-bream: ‘perhaps from its supposed habit, mentioned by Pliny, of accompanying the balæna or whale’ (Riley, Gloss. to Lib. Custum., 785/1).
c. 1185. Neckam, in Wright’s Voc., 97. Musculus, baleyne.
1494. Fabyan, VII. 586. For the firste course.—Brawne and mustarde. Dedellys in burneux. Frument with balien. Pyke in erbage.
1598. Stow, Survey (Strype, 1754), II. V. xxvi. 464/2. An hundred better Balenes of the same year salted for 16s., that is 2d. per pound.
3. Whalebone. Also attrib. or as adj.
(The meaning is uncertain in some early quotations.)
c. 1325. Coeur de L., 2982. Off balayn, both scheeld & targe.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VII. xiii. 68. A ballen [v.r. balen] pavis coueris thair left sydis.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. ccccxix. 734. Gantlettes of steele and baleyne.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., III. 453. Cors-bowis of ballane that war gude.
1708. J. Chamberlayne, St. Gt. Brit., II. I. iii. (1743), 331. Great whales of the Baleen, or whale bone kind.
1824. Meyrick, Anc. Armour, Gloss.
1836. Todd, Cycl. Anat. & Phys., 573/2. At each side of their [i.e., whales’] palate grow, transversely, horny plates, named baleen. Ibid. The base of each baleen-plate.
1874. Wood, Nat. Hist., 142. When first born, the young whale is without the baleen.
