'Right whale' definitions:
Definition of 'right whale'
(from WordNet)
noun
Large Arctic whalebone whale; allegedly the `right' whale to hunt because of its valuable whalebone and oil
Definition of 'Right whale'
From: GCIDE
- Right whale \Right" whale`\ (Zool.) (a) The bowhead, Arctic, or Greenland whale ({Balaena mysticetus}), from whose mouth the best whalebone is obtained. (b) Any other whale that produces valuable whalebone, as the Atlantic, or Biscay, right whale (Balaena cisarctica), and the Pacific right whale (Balaena Sieboldii); a bone whale. [1913 Webster]
- Pygmy right whale (Zool.), a small New Zealand whale (Neobalaena marginata) which is only about sixteen feet long. It produces short, but very elastic and tough, whalebone. [1913 Webster]