whale

Etymology 1

From Middle English whale, from Old English hwæl (“whale”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwal, from Proto-Germanic *hwalaz (“whale”) (compare German Wal, Swedish val, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hval, Norwegian Nynorsk kval; compare also Dutch walvis, West Frisian walfisk, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kʷálos (“sheatfish”) (compare German Wels, Latin squalus (“big sea fish”), Old Prussian kalis, Ancient Greek ἄσπαλος (áspalos), Avestan 𐬐𐬀𐬭𐬀 (kara, “kind of fish”)).

noun

1. Any one of numerous large marine mammals comprising an informal group within infraorder Cetacea that usually excludes dolphins and porpoises.
2. (by extension) Any species of Cetacea.
   The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania.[…]It was used to make kerosene, the main fuel for artificial lighting after overfishing led to a shortage of whale blubber. 2013-08-03, “Yesterday’s fuel”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847
3. (figurative) Something, or someone, that is very large.
   It was a whale of a job. […] It took two months, and the fair blush of youth off my cheeks. 1920 September, “A Reformed Free Lance” (pseudonym), “Doctoring a Sick Encyclopedia”, in The Writer, Volume XXXII, Number 9, page 131
   But when it comes to his business life and business career, Will Clayton is not as other men; he is such a whale of a lot better that it suggests a qualitative as well as a quantitative difference. May 19 1947, John Chamberlain, “Will Clayton and his Problem”, in Life, page 120
4. (figurative, as "whale of a ___") Something, or someone, that is excellent.
   My own father only wrote one poem in his life as far as I know, but it was a whale of a lyric, the kind you would give your whole life to write, which he did, but that is another story. 2002, Kathleen Benson, Philip M. Kayal, Museum of the City of New York, A Community of Many Worlds: Arab Americans in New York City, Syracuse University Press →ISBN, page 54
   Busley Crowther in The New York Times called it “a whale of a comedy” even though he couldn't tell the four musicians apart except for Ringo (“the big-nosed one”). 2006, June Skinner Sawyers, Read the Beatles: Classic and New Writings on the Beatles, Their Legacy, and Why They Still Matter, Penguin
   They were having a whale of a time when a very stern looking shop assistant came over to tell them off. 2013, Fred Holtby, Chris Lovie, ROWDY - THE STORY OF A POLICE DOG, Lulu.com, page 105
5. (gambling) In a casino, a person who routinely bets at the maximum limit allowable.
   These are often no-limit games as maximum bets cramp a whale’s style. 2003, Jeff Wuorio, How to Buy and Sell (Just About) Everything
   A handful of the richest whales routinely play for $200,000 a hand. Australian media mogul Kerry Packer not only regularly bets that much, but has plunked down $200,000 bets for the dealer as a form of a tip. 2004, Norm Clarke, Vegas Confidential: Norm! Sin City's Ace Insider 1,000 Naked Truths, Hot Spots and Cool Stuff
   The high roller who had the most ferocious reputation for trying to run the business of the casinos where he played, before he died on December 26, 2006, was Kerry Packer. In the casino world, Packer was the Prince of Whales. 2008, Deke Castleman, Whale Hunt in the Desert
6. (finance, informal) An investor who deals with very large amounts of money.
   If the banks knew how big Archegos’s position was, they may have realized other banks were supplying it with the same leverage — and reconsidered the trade. But a set of worrisome regulatory loopholes kept them from detecting this lurking whale. 2021-05-18, Alexis Goldstein, “These Invisible Whales Could Sink the Economy”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
7. (marketing, by extension) A person who spends large amounts of money on things that are marketed to them.
   Whales are the big spenders who drop huge amounts of money into a game. 2015, Jamie Madigan, Getting Gamers: The Psychology of Video Games and Their Impact on the People who Play Them
   These different customer groups will be attracted to very different promotions. Your whales might enjoy receiving frequent emails from you and will purchase almost every time. 2015, Omer Artun, Dominique Levin, Predictive Marketing: Easy Ways Every Marketer Can Use Customer Analytics and Big Data, John Wiley & Sons, page 99
   […] gleaned from their activity: one group they dubbed “whales,” the highest-value customers, who bought shave cream and wipes as well as razors; […] 2020, Lawrence Ingrassia, Billion Dollar Brand Club: How Dollar Shave Club, Warby Parker, and Other Disruptors Are Remaking What We Buy, Henry Holt and Company
8. (slang, offensive) An overweight person (usually used against women)

verb

1. (intransitive) To hunt for whales.

Etymology 2

Uncertain. Perhaps a variant of wale influenced by whack, whap, etc.

verb

1. (slang, transitive) To thrash, to flog, to beat vigorously or soundly.
   Brought him back, put him in the stall—low stable—got out of his reach, and then begun to whale him. Then he kicked up agin; […] 1852, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Why Mr Sellum disposed of the horse (chapter XIV in Works, volume 22)
   "I wouldn't let him. When you were a boy in your part of the country, and other boys told tales about you, what did you do with them?" "Whaled 'em like time, Captin'," answered the man; "and if ye'll only shet yer eyes to 't, I'll whale him." "I can't allow such things in the prison," said the Captain; "and besides, the fellow will be lame for a fortnight, and wouldn't be a match for you in that condition. Let him get limber, and then, if you don't whale him, I'll make you walk the ladder for a month." The result was, the conscript officer received a sound thrashing; and did not commit another act worthy of punishment for a week. 1865 May, “Three Days at Camp Douglass”, in Our Young Folks: An Illustrated Magazine for Boys and Girls, volume I, number V, page 296
   They beat him down and kept whaling him after he was flat. 2004, Steve Frazee, Voices in the Hill
   For quotations using this term, see Citations:whale.