Relating to or derived from whale baleen, the filter-feeding plates found in certain whales' mouths used historically for corset stays and other products.
From 'baleen' (whalebone), from Dutch 'balein,' ultimately from Latin 'ballaena' meaning whale, with the adjective suffix '-ine' meaning relating to.
Baleen whales were hunted so intensely that Victorian women's corsets essentially funded the near-extinction of species, making fashion history darker than most realize.
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