Ba*leen" (?), n. [F. baleine whale and whalibone, L. balaena a whale; cf. Gr. . ] Zool. & Com.

Plates or blades of "whalebone," from two to twelve feet long, and sometimes a foot wide, which in certain whales (Balaenoidea) are attached side by side along the upper jaw, and form a fringelike sieve by which the food is retained in the mouth.

 

© Webster 1913.

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