/ · 1894 Brewer’s · W · Whalebone
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White as whalebone. Our forefathers seemed to confuse the walrus with the whale; ivory was made from the teeth of the walrus, and “white as whalebone” is really a blunder for “white as walrusivory.”
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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