noun (n)

• a horny material from the upper jaws of certain whales; used as the ribs of fans or as stays in corsets(noun.substance)

  Synonym:
  whalebone
  

  source: wordnet30
• Plates or blades of "whalebone," from two to twelve feet long, and sometimes a foot wide, which in certain whales (Balænoidea) are attached side by side along the upper jaw, and form a fringelike sieve by which the food is retained in the mouth.(noun)

  source: webster1913