Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) to hit, thrash or trounce; also fig. use.

1830		W. Carleton ‘Battle of the Factions’ Traits and Stories of Irish Peasantry (1868) I 142: It’s the Fair day of Knockimdowney! Irish Fair play, you whale! But I’ll whale you (crack, crack, whack).
1842		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 14 May n.p.: We have a rod in pickle for this cove and shall whale him without mercy.
1848		J.R. Lowell Biglow Papers (1880) 46: Their masters can cuss ’em an’ kick ’em an’ wale ’em.
1850		W.C. Hall ‘Mike Hooter’s Bar Story’ Spirit of the Times 26 Jan. (N.Y.) 581: It minded me o’ David whalin’ Goliath, it did!
1869		‘South-Western Sl.’ in Overland Monthly (CA) Aug. 128: Some boasted that one Southerner could ‘whale’ ten Yankees.
1875		M. Thompson Hoosier Mosaics 168: I recollect my floggings at school with so much aversion that I do think, if a teacher should whale one of my little ruddy-faced boys, I’d spread his (the teacher’s) nose over his face as thin as a rabbit skin!
1884		(con. c.1840) ‘Mark Twain’ Huckleberry Finn 30: He used to always whale me when he was sober and could get his hands on me.
1890		Dead Bird (Sydney) 29 Mar. 4/1: It, is years since we listened to the shrill shriek of the ear-piercing fife or whaled [...] the spirit-stirring drum.
1899		C. Rook Hooligan Nights 74: I’ll wail his young skin proper.
1908		H. Green Maison De Shine 205: Ef he does he gits a whalin’ an I’ll be the whaler.
1912		J. London Smoke Bellew (1926) 21: Your father was a man, every inch of him. [...] I think he’d have whaled all this musical and artistic tomfoolery out of you.
1914		R. Lardner ‘Horseshoes’ in Coll. Short Stories (1941) 261: He whales the groove ball to the fence in left center.
1920		H.C. Witwer Kid Scanlon 359: He whales Old Dobbin with the whip.
1931		(con. 1890s) C.W. Willemse Behind The Green Lights 25: I whaled the nearest fellow so hard that he flew against an iron pillar.
1941		F. Swados House of Fury (1959) 114: If I catch that girl I’ll whale her.
1952		K.C. Lamott Stockade 68: It goes on down the line until somebody whales the be-jesus out of the gook.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 89: I’m not in the mood to ‘whale’ the craps.
1977		K. Gilbert Living Black 304: If a kid smashed a window or was cheeky or vicious his uncle or aunt whaled his arse.
1977		Fidrych & Clark No Big Deal 33: ‘[E]veryone started punchin’. . . I mean everyone was just whalin’ on each other’.
1984		D. Jenkins Life Its Ownself (1985) 187: Dreamer’s the guy who waled on your knee, right?
1986		J. Ellroy Silent Terror 67: If a ‘fruit jockey’ made a sexual advance toward you, ‘wail on his head’ [...] because if you didn’t ‘put him straight,’ you would acquire a ‘fruit jacket.’.
1989		A. Vachss Hard Candy (1990) 115: You started whaling on him with the gun.
2000		P. Earley Super Casino 276: What would he do if he came home and found his kid brother being whaled on by his mom’s crackhead boyfriend?
2010		L. Berney Gutshot Straight [ebook] Gina’s mother used to just whale on Gina’s ass.
2017		Guardian 25 May 🌐 ‘He took me to the ground [...] I think he wailed on me once or twice ... He got on me and I think he hit me’.
2017		D. Winslow The Force [ebook] ‘I’ve whaled the living shit out of them. Sometimes literally’.

2. to hit (rather than beat) an object.

1908

Chicago Trib. 19 July in Fleming Unforgettable Season (1981) 129: Moran whaled a double over third base.

3. (US black/campus) to act well, to do something especially well; thus whaling n. and adj.

1954		Hepster’s Dict. 11: Whaling – Doing good.
1957		H. Simmons Corner Boy 139: If he didn’t have to cut Carl in on the profits he would really be whaling.
1967		P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 83: The gym was whaling. The music was on wax, and it was a mambo.
1971		H.E. Roberts Third Ear n.p.: whale v. 1. to run very fast. 2. to think very clearly. 3. to have a good time; e.g. He was whalin(g) up a storm. 4. to play a musical instrument with fervor.
1985		Eble Campus Sl. Oct. 11: whale – to do extremely well at a task [...] I whaled on my econ exam!

4. (US) to attack.

1958

H. Ellison Web of the City (1983) 12: His green eyes narrowed [...] Then he whaled in.

5. to act aggressively, fast.

1955

‘Hal Ellson’ Rock 83: We really whaled that supply in the back.