Also erron. whaling. [f. WALE sb.1 + -ING1.]
1. The wales or horizontal timbers with which piles are braced; also, one of such timbers, a wale. (Cf. WALE sb.1 5; also FOOT-waling.)
1837. Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 12/1. To these piles will be fixed three tiers of waling of whole timbers.
1878. F. S. Williams, Midl. Railw., 592. After the timbers are fixed, they are braced by what are called ‘walings.’
Comb. 1837. Whittock, Bk. Trades (1842), 202. Oaken piles driven down close to the embankments, with their upper ends crossed by strong ‘whaling-boards’ of oak.
1916. W. Canon, in Chamb. Jrnl., 1 Jan., 68/2. In the black darkness he worked his way along on the narrow, slippery timbers till he reached the edge of the wharf and found footing on the walling [sic] strips against which the ship’s hull rested.
2. Naut. The timbers forming the wale of a boat; in comb. waling-piece, ? = wale-piece (a).
1909. Westm. Gaz., 6 Jan., 7/4. Sone of the survivors saved themselves by seizing the collier’s whaling-piece.
