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  1. porpoise love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Any of several gregarious toothed whales of the genus Phocaena and related genera, of oceanic waters, characteristically having a blunt snout and a triangular dorsal fin. Also called sea hog.
  2. n. Any of several related aquatic mammals, such as the dolphin.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A small toothed cetacean of the family Delphinidæ and subfamily Delphiminæ, and especially of the genus Phoeæna, of which there are several species, the best-known being P. communis, which attains a length of about 5 feet and has a blunt head not produced into a long beak, and a thick body tapering toward the tail. It is common in the North Atlantic, and usually goes in herds or shoals. It feeds almost entirely on fish. A fine oil is prepared from its blubber, and the skin is made into leather; the flesh is eatable. Several genera and numerous species of small cetaceans share the name porpoise, among them the dolphin. See Delphinus, Lagenorhynchus, and Tursiops.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A small cetacean of the family Phocoenidae, related to whales and dolphins.
  2. n. North America, imprecisely Any small dolphin.
  3. v. intransitive Said of an aircraft: to make a series of plunges when taking off or landing.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Zoöl.) Any small cetacean of the genus Phocæna, especially Phocæna communis, or Phocæna phocæna, of Europe, and the closely allied American species (Phocæna Americana). The color is dusky or blackish above, paler beneath. They are closely allied to the dolphins, but have a shorter snout. Called also harbor porpoise, herring hag, puffing pig, and snuffer.
  2. n. (Zoöl.) A true dolphin (Delphinus); -- often so called by sailors.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. any of several small gregarious cetacean mammals having a blunt snout and many teeth

Etymologies

  1. From Middle English porpeys, purpeys, from Anglo-Norman porpeis, purpeis, Old French pourpois, pourpais, porpeis ("porpoise"), from Vulgar Latin *porcopiscis (“porpoise”, literally "pig-fish"), from Latin porcus ("pig") + piscis ("fish"). Compare (in transposed order) obsolete Italian pesce porco and Portuguese peixe porco; also Latin porcus marinus ("sea hog"), akin in formation to German Meerschwein, English mereswine. More at mereswine. (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English porpeis, from Old French (probably translation of a Germanic compound meaning sea-pig) : porc, pig (from Latin porcus; see porko- in Indo-European roots) + peis, fish (from Latin piscis). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “Many people are of opinion that the porpoise is a variety of the dolphin.”

    The History of Animals

  • “A porpoise is a vertical oscillation where you are just a step behind the aircraft and can't physically keep up with the machine; each control movement only serves to exaggerate the problem.”

    Thud Ridge

  • “The dolphin is so uniformly miscalled porpoise, on the west coast and everywhere else, that the creature will soon come to think that it really is a porpoise.”

    Dick in the Everglades

  • “This," exclaimed he, "if I mistake not, augurs well; the porpoise is a fat, well-conditioned fish, a burgomaster among fishes; his looks betoken ease, plenty, and prosperity; I greatly admire this round fat fish, and doubt not but this is a happy omen of the success of our undertaking.”

    Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 8

  • “The porpoise is a fish five or six feet in length, weighing from one hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds.”

    Jack in the Forecastle or, Incidents in the Early Life of Hawser Martingale

  • “What Nairne calls a porpoise, is really the beluga, a small white whale.”

    A Canadian Manor and Its Seigneurs The Story of a Hundred Years, 1761-1861

  • “So-called porpoise leather is made of the skin of the white whale.”

    Ranching, Sport and Travel

  • “The porpoise is the true dolphin, the sailor's dolphin being a fish with vertical tail, scales and gills.”

    Ranching, Sport and Travel

  • “Well, anyway, it's a porpoise, and a porpoise is a kind of shark, isn't it?”

    Europe Revised

  • “The porpoise is the kitten of the sea; he never has a serious thought, he cares for nothing but fun and play.”

    Following the Equator, Part 2

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equivalents (1)

Other words for ‘porpoise’

  1. bay porpoise

hypernyms (1)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. dolphin

hyponyms (5)

Words that are more specific

  1. phocoena phocoena
  1. harbor porpoise
  1. herring hog
  1. phocoena sinus
  1. vaquita

same context (23)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. manatee
  2. dolphin
  3. mackerel
  4. walrus
  1. halibut
  2. octopus
  3. alligator
  4. tuna
  1. shark
  2. squid
  3. turtle
  4. pickerel
  1. mullet
  2. tortoise
  3. otter
  4. whale
  1. whiting
  2. mammal
  3. sea-horses
  4. sturgeon
  1. shellfish
  2. turbot
  3. marlin

rhymes (1)

Words with the same terminal sound

  1. corpus

reverse dictionary (45)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. sea-hog
  2. sea-pig
  3. herring hog
  4. vaquita
  5. phocoena phocoena
  6. phocoena sinus
  7. harbor porpoise
  8. porpaise
  9. porpesse
  1. porpice
  2. porpus
  3. purpeys
  4. skunk-porpoise
  5. sea hog
  6. cowfish
  7. dunter
  8. delphin
  9. harbor-porpoise
  1. phocenic
  2. sea-beef
  3. water-pig
  4. white-sided
  5. melon-oil
  6. mereswine
  7. phocænine
  8. porpoise-oil
  9. puffing-pig
  1. sea-swine
  2. snuffer
  3. snuffing-pig
  4. bay porpoise
  5. gairfish
  6. herring-hog
  7. ichthyosaur
  8. pellack
  9. porpoise
  1. skunk porpoise
  2. puffer
  3. puffing pig
  4. sea pig
  5. caaing-whale
  6. delphinoid
  7. grampus
  8. hogfish
  9. tumbler

tags (6)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. animal
  1. mammal
  1. 790e-3
  1. marine
  1. cetacean
  1. cvccvvcv

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tagging (3)

Words tagged ‘porpoise’

  1. Phocoena phocoena
  1. sea-hog
  1. sea-pig

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Lists

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Comments

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  • reesetee Outrageous. Jan 31, 2009

  • bilby "Before calling the police, this reporter went to check on the tip, skeptical of a hoax. Sure enough, in the well of the cargo elevator, two feet jutted out above the ice. Closer inspection revealed that the rest of the body was encased in 2-3 feet of ice, the body prostrate, suspended into the ice like a porpoising walrus. The hem of a beige jacket could be made out, as could the cuffs of blue jeans. The socks were relatively clean and white. The left shoe was worn at the heel but carried fresh laces. Adding to the macabre and incongruous scene was a pillow that gently propped up the left foot of the corpse. It looked almost peaceful."
    - Charlie LeDuff, Frozen in indifference: Life goes on around body found in vacant warehouse, The Detroit News, 28 Jan 2009.
    Jan 31, 2009

  • yarb Important areas of the porpoise used for communication are the monkey lips and the melon. Nov 9, 2007

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‘porpoise’ has been looked up 2448 times, loved by 2 people, added to 27 lists, commented on 3 times, and has a Scrabble score of 12.