Hypertext Webster Gateway: "baleen"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Baleen \Ba*leen"\, n. [F. baleine whale and whalibone, L.
balaena a whale; cf. Gr. ?. ] (Zo["o]l. & Com.)
Plates or blades of ``whalebone,'' from two to twelve feet
long, and sometimes a foot wide, which in certain whales
({Bal[ae]noidea}) are attached side by side along the upper
jaw, and form a fringelike sieve by which the food is
retained in the mouth.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
baleen
n : a horny material from the upper jaws of certain whales; used
as the ribs of fans or as stays in corsets [syn: {whalebone}]
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