whiting - Wiktionary, the free dictionary


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From white +‎ -ing.

whiting (usually uncountable, plural whitings)

  1. A fine white chalk used in paints, putty, whitewash etc.
    Synonym: whitening
    Hyponyms: French white, Paris white, Spanish white
    • 1918, Hannah Teresa Rowley, Mrs. Helen Louise (Wales) Farrell, Principles of Chemistry Applied to the Household
      Precipitated calcium carbonate, a very fine powdery form, is used as a basis for many tooth powders and pastes. As whiting it finds a wide use in cleaning metals of their tarnishes.

fine white chalk

whiting

  1. present participle and gerund of white
 
a whiting (Merlangius merlangus)

From Middle English whityng, whytyng, perhaps an alteration of Old English hwītling (whiting), remodelled after white +‎ -ing (diminutive suffix). Related to the colour white. Cognate with Dutch wijting (whiting), Old Norse hvítingr (a kind of whale).

whiting (plural whitings or whiting)

  1. A fish, Merlangius merlangus (family Gadidae), similar to cod, found in the North Atlantic; English whiting (US).
  2. Any fish of many species that resemble Merlangius merlangus:
    1. in family Gadidae:
      1. (US) Any of several marine fish found in North American coastal waters, including hakes (genus Merluccius), especially Merluccius bilinearis (silver hake).
      2. (Canada) Alaska pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus, syn. Theragra chalcogramma).
      3. A blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou), a marine fish of the Northern Hemisphere.
      4. A southern blue whiting (Micromesistius australis), a marine fish of the Southern Hemisphere.
    2. in family Sillaginidae, smelt-whitings, inhabiting Indo-Pacific marine coasts, many species of which are commercially important whitefish.
    3. in family Sciaenidae, Menticirrhus americanus (Carolina whiting, king whiting, southern kingcroaker, and southern kingfish) found along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States.

fish, Merlangius merlangus

fish of the family Sillaginidae

Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, pg 3631