baleen Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a horny material from the upper jaws of certain whales; used as the ribs of fans or as stays in corsets
    whalebone.

WordNet

Ba*leen" noun
Etymology
F. baleine whale and whalibone, L. balaena a whale; cf. Gr. .
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl. & Com.) Plates or blades of "whalebone," from two to twelve feet long, and sometimes a foot wide, which in certain whales (Balænoidea) are attached side by side along the upper jaw, and form a fringelike sieve by which the food is retained in the mouth.

Webster 1913