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.
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.
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right whale
n : large arctic whalebone whale; allegedly the `right' whale to
hunt because of its valuable whalebone and oil