whale away at (someone or something)

1. To attack or thrash something in an brutal, forceful, or relentless manner. He stood there whaling away at the wall with a sledgehammer, but he barely seemed to be making a dent in it. She began whaling away at the poor child until a police officer finally intervened. The other team whaled away at us for the entire game, leading to one of our most humiliating defeats of the season.

2. To criticize, rebuke, or verbally assault someone or something vehemently or relentlessly. The interviewer suddenly began whaling away at the politician over his alleged ties to the pharmaceutical industry. The boss whaled away at us for the entirety of the meeting because of our failure to meet our sales quota.

whale into (someone or something)

1. To attack or thrash something in an brutal, forceful, or relentless manner. He stood there whaling into the wall with a sledgehammer, but he barely seemed to be making a dent in it. She began whaling into the poor child until a police officer finally intervened. The other team whaled into us for the entire game, leading to one of our most humiliating defeats of the season.

2. To criticize, rebuke, or verbally assault someone or something vehemently or relentlessly. The interviewer suddenly began whaling into the politician over his alleged ties to the pharmaceutical industry. The boss whaled into us for the entirety of the meeting because of our failure to meet our sales quota.

whale on (someone or something)

1. To attack or thrash something in an brutal, forceful, or relentless manner. He stood there whaling on the wall with a sledgehammer, but he barely seemed to be making a dent in it. She began whaling on the poor child until a police officer finally intervened. The other team whaled on us for the entire game, leading to one of our most humiliating defeats of the season.

2. To criticize, rebuke, or verbally assault someone or something vehemently or relentlessly. The interviewer suddenly began whaling on the politician over his alleged ties to the pharmaceutical industry. The boss whaled on us for the entirety of the meeting because of our failure to meet our sales quota.

whale the tar out of (one)

1. To beat or thrash one very severely. The police officer dragged the suspect from the car and started whaling the tar out of him. He threatened to whale the tar out of me if I didn't tell him where the money was.

2. To defeat or dominate one very thoroughly, as in a contest or competition. The other team whaled the tar out of us last year, but we're ready for them this time. We all expected her to win the election, but she absolutely whaled the tar out of her opponent.

whaling

dated slang An intensifier, especially for something very good or enjoyable. An allusion to the great size of a whale. We had a whaling good time at that party. The boy has a whaling big appetite, but he's still as skinny as a string bean!

wailing

and whaling

mod. excellent. (Teens.) What a whaling guitar!

whaling

verb

See wailing

See also:

References in periodicals archive

Critics of whaling point out that the industry has an extremely poor conservation record.

Thar she blows!

Japan, Iceland, Norway and other pro-whaling nations have been pushing the International Whaling Commission to revoke the 1986 ban on commercial hunts amid controversy over exactly how many whales are left in the world's oceans.

Iceland breaks whaling agreement

Fifty of the humpback whales that recently passed by Sydney could next year be targeted by the Japanese 'scientific whaling' program in the Southern Ocean, and their meat processed into whale burgers or fried and seasoned with soy sauce.

Whale meat and greet

Existing catch limits for all current aboriginal whaling operations -- on Arctic bowhead whales, northeastern Pacific gray whales, minke whales off Greenland, west Greenland fin whales and north Atlantic humpback whales off St.

IWC to focus on aboriginal whaling, RMS

Japan evoked international ire when it announced last month that it had submitted to the IWC a plan to expand its lethal whaling program to include the sei whale in its catch targets and increase the annual target of minke whales by 50.

N.Z. to push for whale protection at next IWC meeting

Still, many enjoyed the excitement of whaling. Henry Cheever wrote, "I like the eagerness and activity and can very well put up with the smell and dirt which having dead whales alongside makes in a whale ship."

Whale hunters: Men risked their lives for the chance of adventure. (American history)

''We have our whaling culture and enough scientific data backing our trial to preserve it and leave it to our descendants,'' he says.

FOCUS: Expert supports whaling to save oceans, feed world

When one whaling ground was depleted, the whalers exploited another.

Whaling: giant killers

The resulting erosion of anti-whaling sentiment in the IWC has aroused conservationists' fears not only that commercial whaling may be re-introduced, but that such whaling would then proceed in a poorly regulated environment--exposing whale populations to potentially devastating exploitation based on flimsy science.

Japan defies an IWC request to stop expansion of its whale harvest

Inuit Whaling and Sustainability contributes to our understanding of whale harvesting and protection by focussing on the fundamental issues of sustainability that motivate save-the-whale campaigns but are equally crucial to the welfare of subsistence whaling societies.

WHALING AND WELL-BEING

Australia condemns Japan's decision to renew its Southern Ocean whaling program and will continue to pressure the Japanese government to abandon lethal "scientific whaling," Environment Minister Robert Hill said Thursday.

Australia condemns Japan for whaling in Southern Ocean

When Hiller Elementary decided to begin the school year with a school-wide thematic unit on whales, we studied the art of scrimshaw, looked at a reproduction of a Currier and Ives' whaling print, and studied pictures of Peruvian ceramics depicting stylized killer whales.

Inflatables

Publication of "On the Northwest: Commercial Whaling in the Pacific Northwest, 1790-1967," by Robert Lloyd Webb, has been published by the University of British Columbia Press, #303 - 6344 Memorial Road, Vancouver, B.C., Canada V6T 1W5.

On the Northwest: Commercial Whaling in the Pacific Northwest, 1790-1967

Although whaling has decreased dramatically since some 32,000 whales were killed in 1972-73, it was only last year that the International Whaling Commission was able to virtually ban commercial whaling.

Whale-watching