right whale
4
7.9
- noun
- /raɪt weɪl/
:
ballena franca
- There are only a few hundred North Atlantic right whales in existence.
- Atlantic right whale
- North Atlantic right whale
- southern right whale
Examples
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The North Atlantic right whale population is rebounding in the Bay of Fundy following a joint initiative between Irving Oil and the New England Aquarium.
Blog text (20) -
Most southern right whales are born dark, but this one is white, a rare occurrence.
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There are very few right whales left.
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Mate is applying the techniques he developed in past research with North Atlantic right whales.
Academic text (1993) -
Southern right whales have shownsome signs of recovery thanks to protective measures.
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What little funding is available has been focused on humpback and right whales because their presence interferes with human activities more often.
Academic text (1993) -
The North Atlantic right whale was once considered near-extinct, but now the species is said to be rebounding at an average rate of two percent per year in the Bay of Fundy.
Blog text (20) -
The right whale's mouth containsabout 250 baleen plates, enabling it to filter tons of zooplankton.
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Because the right whale population is so low, the potential removal of even one whale per year requires regulatory action pursuant to the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).
Academic text (1999) -
Researchers spot a high number of right whales in Cape Cod Bay.
Synonyms
A family of large whales with baleen plates like right whales
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase signals a kind of whale so a learner who knows 'whale' will grasp it's a species of whale, but the modifier 'right' does not carry its ordinary B1 sense of 'correct' — it historically means 'suitable/right to hunt' and this specialized, historical sense is not predictable from the constituents. Thus the basic referent is transparent but the specific meaning and origin of 'right' in this name are not, making the expression only partially transparent to learners.
Etymology
Right whale: The name right whale comes from old whalers. One popular story says these big, slow whales floated after being killed and stayed near the coast, so they were the 'right' ones to hunt because they gave a lot of oil and other useful parts, and that's why we still call them right whales today.