Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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FINNER, n.¹ 1. A whale of the genus Balaenoptera, a rorqual, so called from its prominent dorsal fin (Sh. 1808 Jam., 1932 J. M. E. Saxby Sh. Trad. Lore 202).Sh. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ V. 190:
Large lean whales . . . commonly measure from 60 to 90 feet in length, and are denominated finners.Sc. 1817 Scots Mag. (Oct.) 282:
An immense shoal of the species of whales called finners was observed in the river Tay.Sc. 1822 Scott Pirate ii.:
The Berserkars . . . used to run like madmen on swords . . . and snap them all into pieces, as a finner would go through a herring-net.Ork. 1891 Buckley and Harvie-Brown Fauna Ork. 72:
When a huge Rorqual is seen blowing . . . that is perhaps put down as a "Finner."

2. The basking-shark, Selachus maximus.Fif. 1939 St Andrews Cit. (26 Aug.):
Their 35-foot craft ran into a shoal of "finners" — as basking sharks are known locally — inshore between Pittenweem and St Monance.