Obs. Also 6 wherpole, w(h)orpoul, etc. [app. an alteration, by popular etymology, of THIRLEPOLL, q.v.] ? The large blowing whale.

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c. 1450.  Brut, II. 603. Ther wer sene in þe Temys at Londen, many whyrlepolys, & anoþer tyme a whale.

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1508.  Stanbridge, Vulgaria (W. de W.), B j. Balena, a whyrlepole.

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1541.  in Lincoln Chapter Acts, II. 49 (Linc. Rec. Soc. XII.). Sturgion, seale, porpoise, wherpole, and such like.

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1558.  Gesner, Hist. Anim., IV. 853.

5

1601.  Holland, Pliny, IX. iii. I. 235. The Whales and Whirlepooles called Balænæ.

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1678.  Yng. Man’s Call., 301. At Quinborough three great dolphin were taken,… and a while after three other fishes, called whirlpools were taken at Gravesend.

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1694.  Motteux, Rabelais, IV. xxxiii. 131. A huge monstrous Physetere, a sort of a Whale (which some call a Whirl pool).

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