whalebone
2
8.3
- noun
- /ˈweɪlˌboʊn/
- Archaic
:
ballena
- Historian Richard Harmond stated that "enthusiastic cyclists doffed their confining whalebone corsets and donned shorter dresses, split skirts, and even bloomers."
- whalebone corset
- whalebone stays
Examples
-
While most other women surrendered their breath capacities to whalebone corsets, the panting, cycling woman was a deviant.
Academic text (2012) -
I shall need a whalebone corset.
-
Have you ever worn a whalebone corset?
-
Her black corset seems to apologize for its whalebone prison by offering
Fiction book (1998) -
Mashers went out with whalebone corsets and hairnets.
-
By mid-century, when he left a thriving business to his adopted nephew, John, he was primarily engaged in the export of whalebone and oils.
Academic text (1997) -
I essayed a restorative deep breath, but the tightness of the whalebone corseting made it come out as a strangled gasp.
Fiction book (1992) -
His hand at her waist touched the whalebones of corset stays, and when she took a step back and looked at him, the bones creaked against each other as she moved and breathed.
Fiction book (1997) -
Moisture gathered between her breasts, pasting her whalebone corset to her back, and steaming her feet in their proper but insufferable laced black boots.
Fiction book (1997) -
The fashion designer created a stunning gown featuring a classic whalebone corset for support.
Synonyms
3
9.9
Tough flexible plates in a whale's upper jaw that filter small animals from the water
Compounds
- Archaic
A large whale that uses thin, brush-like plates in its mouth to filter tiny sea animals from water
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Whalebone comes from two simple words, whale and bone, meaning the 'bone' taken from a whale. Because this strong, flexible material was used to stiffen corsets and umbrella ribs, the name came to mean that stiffening material.