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porpoise

Pronunciation: /ˈpɔːpəs, ˈpɔpɔɪs/

Translate porpoise | into French | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of porpoise

noun

  • a small toothed whale with a low triangular dorsal fin and a blunt rounded snout.
    • Family Phocoenidae: three genera and several species, in particular the common (or harbour) porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), of the North Atlantic and North Pacific

verb

[no object]
  • move through the water like a porpoise, alternately rising above it and submerging:the boat began to porpoise badly

Origin:

Middle English: from Old French porpois, based on Latin porcus 'pig' + piscis 'fish', rendering earlier porcus marinus 'sea hog'

porpoise in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of porpoise in the US English dictionary

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