whaling

noun

whal·​ing ˈ(h)wā-liŋ 

: the occupation of catching and extracting commercial products from whales

Examples of whaling in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This included 500 years of Black mariners in fishing, sailing, surfing and whaling. — Abby Hamblin, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 June 2026

The whales that were once abundant along the East Coast of the United States were devastated by commercial whaling. — Moná Thomas, PEOPLE, 8 May 2026

Their protagonists tend to be runaways—men who join whaling expeditions in their haste to dodge the malaise that sets in on shore, boys who board rafts floating down the Mississippi to evade their guardians and their chores. — Becca Rothfeld, New Yorker, 1 June 2026

And like many other large endangered whales, fin whale populations have been heavily impacted by commercial whaling in the mid-1900s. — Laylan Connelly, Oc Register, 14 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1688, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing whaling

• anti-whaling

Rhymes for whaling

• ailing
• bailing
• baling
• failing
• flailing
• grayling
• hailing
• jailing
• mailing
• nailing
• paling
• railing