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Definition of baleen : Plates or blades of whalebone, from two to twelve feet long, and sometimes a foot wide, which in certain whales ( Balaenoidea) are attached side by side along the upper jaw, and form a fringelike sieve by which the food is retained in the mouth.

Synonyms:

whalebone

Usage examples:

• The inside of the monstrous cavity, the mouth, has nothing like the baleen or whale- bone, such as is found in the Greenland whale; but in the lower jaw it has a formidable row of large teeth of conical shape, forty- two in number. - "Old Jack", W.H.G. Kingston.