Meanings
- literarykenningThe ocean.
A long season we spent on the whale's way, with the wind biting through our tunics[.]
2002, Juliet Marillier, Wolfskin, Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, page 92 more examples
Beowulf answered the queen, “I wished that when I had let float my sea-wood on the whale's way, when I set sail with my war-band, to answer with my life the challenge of Grendel.”
1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 28While their great canoes, carrying many cannon, span the whale's way, their warriors bestride our land and their settlers plant behind them.
2013, M.J. Burr, End of Honour, eBook Partnership, page 28Synonyms: whale-road, whale's road
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe ocean.
Origin
- Old Englishhranrād
- Englishwhale's way
Calque of Old English hranrād, from hran (“whale”) + rād (“road, way”).
More words from Old English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
whale's way. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whale's%20way
“whale's way.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whale's%20way. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “whale's way,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whale's%20way.
Source: whale's way on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.