whaling

plural whalings

1. countableuncountableThe practice of hunting whales.

   1 more example

   In 1946, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was established to regulate whale stocks and “make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry”. It attempted to impose quotas and move the industry toward something more sustainable. This proved difficult, so the IWC simply gave up and imposed a moratorium on whaling altogether. Some countries flounced out in a huff; others had never joined in the first place.

   2025 September 11, Kate Marvel, “‘We’ve done it before’: how not to lose hope in the fight against ecological disaster”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 02 Nov 2025

2. countableuncountableThe practice of spotting whales.

   Synonyms: whale watching

3. countableinformaluncountableA beating.
4. countableuncountablecomputingA form of highly personalized cyberattack that targets a senior business executive.

   Whaling attacks typically take specific responsibilities of these executive roles into consideration, using focused messaging to trick the victim.

   2017, Prithviraj Gohel, Cyber Attacks: are we really secure?

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of whale
2. informalphysically beating.