porpoise
[pawr-puh s]
- any of several small, gregarious cetaceans of the genus Phocoena, usually blackish above and paler beneath, and having a blunt, rounded snout, especially the common porpoise, P. phocoena, of both the North Atlantic and Pacific.
- any of several other small cetaceans, as the common dolphin, Delphinus delphis.
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- (of a speeding motorboat) to leap clear of the water after striking a wave.
- (of a torpedo) to appear above the surface of the water.
- to move forward with a rising and falling motion in the manner of a porpoise: The car has a tendency to porpoise when overloaded.
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Origin of porpoise
1275–1325; Middle English porpoys < Middle French porpois < Vulgar Latin *porcopiscis hog fish, for Latin porcus marīnus sea hog
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
mammalporpoisewhalegrampusdolphinbelugaorcawhoppercetaceanbaleenfinbackrorqualnarwhalcetecetaorcseiExamples from the Web for porpoise
Historical Examples
Perhaps, suggested Bell, we might make a ship out of some of the planks of the Porpoise.
The Field of IceJules Verne
But I wonder what the Porpoise was, and what brought her in these seas?
The Field of IceJules Verne
The next business was to move in all the furniture of the Porpoise.
The Field of IceJules Verne
He might as well have tried to get early speed out of a porpoise.
Old Man CurryCharles E. (Charles Emmett) Van Loan
Then we've not much to fear from him; but here he is, puffing like a porpoise.
The Universal ReciterVarious
porpoise
- any of various small cetacean mammals of the genus Phocaena and related genera, having a blunt snout and many teeth: family Delphinidae (or Phocaenidae)
- (not in technical use) any of various related cetaceans, esp the dolphin
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Word Origin
C14: from French pourpois, from Medieval Latin porcopiscus (from Latin porcus pig + piscis fish), replacing Latin porcus marīnus sea pig
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for porpoise
n.
early 14c., porpas, from Old French porpais (12c.) "porpoise," literally "pork fish," from porc "pork" (see pork (n.)) + peis "fish," from Latin piscis "fish" (see fish (n.)).
The Old French word probably is a loan-translation of a Germanic word meaning literally "sea-hog, mere-swine;" cf. Old Norse mar-svin, Old High German meri-swin, Middle Dutch mereswijn "porpoise" (the last of which also was borrowed directly into French and became Modern French marsouin).
Classical Latin had a similar name, porculus marinus (in Pliny), and the notion behind the name likely is a fancied resemblance of the snout to that of a pig.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper