Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

   Note: The existing whales are divided into two groups: the
         toothed whales ({Odontocete}), including those that
         have teeth, as the cachalot, or sperm whale (see {Sperm
         whale}); and the baleen, or whalebone, whales
         ({Mysticete}), comprising those that are destitute of
         teeth, but have plates of baleen hanging from the upper
         jaw, as the right whales. The most important species of
         whalebone whales are the bowhead, or Greenland, whale
         (see Illust. of {Right whale}), the Biscay whale, the
         Antarctic whale, the gray whale (see under {Gray}), the
         humpback, the finback, and the rorqual.

   {Whale bird}. (Zo["o]l.)
   (a) Any one of several species of large Antarctic petrels
       which follow whaling vessels, to feed on the blubber and
       floating oil; especially, {Prion turtur} (called also
       {blue petrel}), and {Pseudoprion desolatus}.
   (b) The turnstone; -- so called because it lives on the
       carcasses of whales. [Canada]

   {Whale fin} (Com.), whalebone. --Simmonds.

   {Whale fishery}, the fishing for, or occupation of taking,
      whales.

   {Whale louse} (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of
      degraded amphipod crustaceans belonging to the genus
      {Cyamus}, especially {C. ceti}. They are parasitic on
      various cetaceans.

   {Whale's bone}, ivory. [Obs.]

   {Whale shark}. (Zo["o]l.)
   (a) The basking, or liver, shark.
   (b) A very large harmless shark ({Rhinodon typicus}) native
       of the Indian Ocean. It sometimes becomes sixty feet
       long.

   {Whale shot}, the name formerly given to spermaceti.

   {Whale's tongue} (Zo["o]l.), a balanoglossus.

Shark \Shark\, n. [Of uncertain origin; perhaps through OF. fr.
   carcharus a kind of dogfish, Gr. karchari`as, so called from
   its sharp teeth, fr. ka`rcharos having sharp or jagged teeth;
   or perhaps named from its rapacity (cf. {Shark}, v. t. & i.);
   cf. Corn. scarceas.]
   1. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of elasmobranch
      fishes of the order Plagiostomi, found in all seas.

   Note: Some sharks, as the basking shark and the whale shark,
         grow to an enormous size, the former becoming forty
         feet or more, and the latter sixty feet or more, in
         length. Most of them are harmless to man, but some are
         exceedingly voracious. The man-eating sharks mostly
         belong to the genera {Carcharhinus}, {Carcharodon}, and
         related genera. They have several rows of large sharp
         teeth with serrated edges, as the great white shark
         ({Carcharodon carcharias, or Rondeleti}) of tropical
         seas, and the great blue shark ({Carcharhinus glaucus})
         of all tropical and temperate seas. The former
         sometimes becomes thirty-six feet long, and is the most
         voracious and dangerous species known. The rare
         man-eating shark of the United States coast
         ({Charcarodon Atwoodi}) is thought by some to be a
         variety, or the young, of {C. carcharias}. The dusky
         shark ({Carcharhinus obscurus}), and the smaller blue
         shark ({C. caudatus}), both common species on the coast
         of the United States, are of moderate size and not
         dangerous. They feed on shellfish and bottom fishes.

   2. A rapacious, artful person; a sharper. [Colloq.]

   3. Trickery; fraud; petty rapine; as, to live upon the shark.
      [Obs.] --South.

   {Baskin shark}, {Liver shark}, {Nurse shark}, {Oil shark},
   {Sand shark}, {Tiger shark}, etc. See under {Basking},
      {Liver}, etc. See also {Dogfish}, {Houndfish},
      {Notidanian}, and {Tope}.

   {Gray shark}, the sand shark.

   {Hammer-headed shark}. See {Hammerhead}.

   {Port Jackson shark}. See {Cestraciont}.

   {Shark barrow}, the eggcase of a shark; a sea purse.

   {Shark ray}. Same as {Angel fish}
      (a), under {Angel}.

   {Thrasher} shark, or {Thresher shark}, a large, voracious
      shark. See {Thrasher}.

   {Whale shark}, a huge harmless shark ({Rhinodon typicus}) of
      the Indian Ocean. It becomes sixty feet or more in length,
      but has very small teeth.

Source : WordNet®

whale shark
     n : large spotted shark of warm surface waters worldwide;
         resembles a whale and feeds chiefly on plankton [syn: {Rhincodon
         typus}]