whale

1. (by extension) Any species of Cetacea.Examples: "The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania.[…]It was used to make kerosene, the main fuel for artificial lighting after overfishing led to a shortage of whale blubber."broadly

2. (figuratively) Something, or someone, that is very large.Examples: "It was a whale of a job. […] It took two months, and the fair blush of youth off my cheeks."; "But when it comes to his business life and business career, Will Clayton is not as other men; he is such a whale of a lot better that it suggests a qualitative as well as a quantitative difference."; "Passing the Congregation Shearith Israel on Central Park West (a white whale of a building with a triangular pediment supported by four count ’em four massive Corinthian columns), Professor Solanka scurrying through the downpour remembered the newly bat-mitzvahed thirteen-year-old girl he’d glimpsed through the side door, […]"figuratively

3. (figuratively, as "whale of a ___") Something, or someone, that is excellent.Examples: "My own father only wrote one poem in his life as far as I know, but it was a whale of a lyric, the kind you would give your whole life to write, which he did, but that is another story."; "Busley Crowther in The New York Times called it “a whale of a comedy” even though he couldn't tell the four musicians apart except for Ringo (“the big-nosed one”)."; "They were having a whale of a time when a very stern looking shop assistant came over to tell them off."figuratively

4. (gambling, figuratively) A gambler who routinely wagers large amounts of money.Examples: "These are often no-limit games as maximum bets cramp a whale’s style."; "A handful of the richest whales routinely play for $200,000 a hand. Australian media mogul Kerry Packer not only regularly bets that much, but has plunked down $200,000 bets for the dealer as a form of a tip."; "The high roller who had the most ferocious reputation for trying to run the business of the casinos where he played, before he died on December 26, 2006, was Kerry Packer. In the casino world, Packer was the Prince of Whales."Synonyms: high rollerfiguratively

5. (finance, figuratively, informal) An investor who deals with very large amounts of money.Examples: "If the banks knew how big Archegos’s position was, they may have realized other banks were supplying it with the same leverage — and reconsidered the trade. But a set of worrisome regulatory loopholes kept them from detecting this lurking whale."figurativelyinformal

6. (marketing, figuratively) A person who spends large amounts of money on things that are marketed to them.Examples: "Whales are the big spenders who drop huge amounts of money into a game."; "These different customer groups will be attracted to very different promotions. Your whales might enjoy receiving frequent emails from you and will purchase almost every time."; "[…] gleaned from their activity: one group they dubbed “whales,” the highest-value customers, who bought shave cream and wipes as well as razors; […]"figuratively