early 14c., "whalebone," from Old French balaine (12c.) "whale, whalebone," from Latin ballaena, from Greek phallaina "whale" (apparently related to phallos "swollen [..]

flexible, horn-like substance hanging from the upper jaw of certain whales, used to strain plankton from seawater when feeding.

The filtering plates that hang from the upper jaws of baleen whales. baleen plate

(n) a horny material from the upper jaws of certain whales; used as the ribs of fans or as stays in corsets

series of horny plates that hang from the gums of the upper jaw of some large whales (called Mysticetes). The baleen is made from the same materials as human hair and fingernails. It is used to filter small bits of food from the water.

A horny substance, commonly known as whalebone, that grows as plates from the upper jaws of certain whales, and forms a fringelike filter for extracting plankton such as krill from seawater.

Plates of hard, flexible keratin (the same material that makes up our fingernails) with flexible fringes that hang from the upper jaws of certain types of whales. Baleen whales take large amounts of w [..]

 Long, flat plates made of fingernail-like material called keratin that hang from a baleen whale's mouth in place of teeth.

the horny plates that hang from the mouth of some whales; used to filter out water but to retain solids when whales feed

Long hanging parts from the inside upper jaw of a whales mouth that are used to filter food items from the water.

(physiology,uncountable) The bony material that makes up the plates in the mouth of the baleen whale, ''Mysticeti'', which it uses to trap its food; formerly used in corsetry * year=1954|author=Ale [..]