whale's way en · NOUN
Etymology
Calque of Old English hranrād, from hran (“whale”) + rād (“road, way”).
Meanings
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(literary, qualifier:kenning) The ocean.
Beowulf answered the queen, “I wished that when I had let float my sea-wood on the whale's way, when I set sail with my war-band, to answer with my life the challenge of Grendel.”
1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 28:While their great canoes, carrying many cannon, span the whale's way, their warriors bestride our land and their settlers plant behind them.
2013, M.J. Burr, End of Honour, eBook Partnership, page 28:A long season we spent on the whale's way, with the wind biting through our tunics[.]
2002, Juliet Marillier, Wolfskin, Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, page 9:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| the whale's way | canonical | lexicographic |