Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of various marine toothed whales of the genus Phocoena and related genera, characteristically having a blunt snout and a triangular dorsal fin. Porpoises are placed either in their own family, Phocoenidae, or with the dolphins in the family Delphinidae.
- noun Any of several related aquatic mammals, such as the dolphins.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun 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.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) Any small cetacean of the genus Phocæna, especially
Phocæna communis , orPhocæna 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 alsoharbor porpoise ,herring hag ,puffing pig , andsnuffer . - noun (Zoöl.) A true dolphin (Delphinus); -- often so called by sailors.
- noun (Zoöl.) a North American porpoise (
Lagenorhynchus acutus ), larger than the common species, and with broad stripes of white and yellow on the sides. SeeIllustration in Appendix.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A small
cetacean of the familyPhocoenidae , related to whales and dolphins. - noun North America, imprecisely Any small dolphin.
- verb intransitive Said of an aircraft: to make a series of plunges when taking off or landing.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun any of several small gregarious cetacean mammals having a blunt snout and many teeth
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Many people are of opinion that the porpoise is a variety of the dolphin.
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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.
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"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."
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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
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The porpoise is the true dolphin, the sailor's dolphin being a fish with vertical tail, scales and gills.
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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
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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.
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So-called porpoise leather is made of the skin of the white whale.
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Well, anyway, it's a porpoise, and a porpoise is a kind of shark, isn't it?
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The porpoise is the kitten of the sea; he never has a serious thought, he cares for nothing but fun and play.
yarb commented on the word porpoise
Important areas of the porpoise used for communication are the monkey lips and the melon.
November 10, 2007
bilby commented on the word porpoise
"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.
January 31, 2009
reesetee commented on the word porpoise
Outrageous.
February 1, 2009