Whāle'bōne, n.

n. A firm, elastic substance resembling bone, taken from the upper jaw of the right whale, used as a stiffening in stays, fans, screens, and for various other purposes; baleen.

☞ The whalebone occurs in long, thin plates, arranged transversely in rows, and fringed at the edges with thread-like processes. There are about three hundred of these plates in the mouth of a full-grown animal, varying from ten to fifteen feet in length. Their use is to retain the mollusks, medusæ, and other small fry which constitute the food of the whale. The whalebone is chiefly obtained from the Balæna mysticetus, or Greenland whale, and B. australis, or Southern whale. It is prepared for manufacture by being softened by boiling, and dyed black.