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porpoise
[ pawr-puhs ]
noun
- any of several small, gregarious cetacean mammals 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 Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.
verb (used without object)
- (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.
porpoise
/ ˈpɔːpəs /
noun
- 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
Other Words From
- porpoise·like adjective
Word History and Origins
Origin of porpoise1
Word History and Origins
Origin of porpoise1
Example Sentences
The problems of overfishing go beyond the damage to important species like sharks and rays and charismatic, endangered species like the vaquita porpoise.
Whales, dolphins and porpoises all live in water, but they’re not fish.
From time to time a porpoise swam up, and with a sudden roll disappeared below the scarcely ruffled surface.
There is a rotund, porpoise-shaped globular gentleman known of these parts as 'Bim the Button Man.'
Tad made a long, curving dive not unlike that of a porpoise.
The girls plump as a young porpoise, an shes mine, an Im going to keep her; you can lay to that!
They were like silver gulls escorting limitless schools of porpoise through placid waters.
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