prairie whale
n.—Gloss: a hog. Note: So-called because its fat can be used for things usually done with ambergris. «By the 1840s, whale oil’s dominance in lighting was under sustained attack. Lard oil, boiled from the fat of hogs, or “prairie whales” as they were called, had become an increasingly attractive lighting source, and camphene, a distillate of turpentine mixed with alcohol, also began taking market share.» —“From whale oil and beyond” by Eric Jay Dolin Boston Globe Oct. 11, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In 1971, when a new public library opened in Troy, Michigan, famous authors and artists were invited to write letters to the city’s youngest readers, extolling the many benefits of libraries. One of the loveliest was from E.B. White, author of...
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