porpoise

verb

porpoised; porpoising; porpoises

intransitive verb

1

: to leap or plunge like a porpoise

… penguins call as they porpoise out of the water …

—David Lewis

When traveling in the water, Adélie penguins move by porpoising.

—David G. Ainley

2

: to rise and fall repeatedly

Examples of porpoise in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This essentially means the city is globally recognized for protecting and caring for the whale, dolphin, and porpoise communities that pass through their waters. —Alanna Bennett, Condé Nast Traveler, 20 Apr. 2026

While other seals at the aquarium might go for high-energy behaviors like porpoising or dancing, Reggae would rather not. —Ryan Brennan, Kansas City Star, 18 Mar. 2026

While some seals enjoy high-energy behaviors like porpoising or dancing, Reggae prefers calmer activities. —Ryan Brennan, Miami Herald, 18 Mar. 2026

Mincemeat pies, crane, swan, brawn (terrine made with a pig’s head and served with mustard), goose and lamprey pie, and even porpoise (served dressed with vinegar and breadcrumbs) were all popular holiday fare. —Hadley Hall Meares, Vanity Fair, 22 Dec. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1909, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing porpoise

• Dall's porpoise

Rhymes for porpoise

• corpus

Kids Definition

porpoise

noun

por·​poise

ˈpȯr-pəs

1

: any of several small whales with teeth and blunt rounded snouts that live and travel in groups

2

: dolphin sense 1a

Etymology

Middle English porpoys "porpoise," from early French porpeis (same meaning), from Latin porcopiscis, literally, "pig fish," from porcus "pig" and piscis "fish"; originally in Latin called porcus marinus, literally, "pig of the sea" — related to porcupine, pork

Word Origin

The porpoise is a swift and graceful swimmer. But both its name and pork, the English word for the meat of hogs, can be traced to Latin porcus, meaning "pig." The porpoise's rounded face must have reminded ancient Romans of a pig's snout. They named the animal porcus marinus, meaning "pig of the sea." In the Middle Ages this became porcopiscus, from Latin porcus "pig" and piscis "fish." In early French, the word was borrowed as porpeis. It is from the French that we derived our English word porpoise.