DCHP-1 Online

whaleback

• 1 n. See 1952 quote.

  See also: whaleback hill  

  • 1934  "I couldn't find any quartz on this land of ours--nor schists. To-day I found both." "On the whale-back?" "Yep."
  • 1952  The drumlins are special features of the ground moraine and are composed of the same kinds of boulder as the till plains. They occur in groups which may contain anywhere from ten to many hundreds, with their crests all trending in the same direction. A group of drumlins looks very much like a school of huge whales basking on the surface and they are often locally termed "whalebacks."

• 2 † n. a type of freighter used for carrying grain or ore on the Great Lakes, having a cigar-shaped hull and low, convex deck.

  • 1936  [Caption] "Whale-Backs" and other Grain-Carriers Waiting to Load Wheat at Fort William Elevators.
  • 1957  Even on the newly built "whalebacks" a seaman must slither over an open deck between bow and stern.
  • 1966  The John Erikson, the last of the Great Lakes whaleback grain carriers, was donated Tuesday to the City of Hamilton [Ont.]. . . .