porpoise

/ˈpɔːpəs/

Etymology

From Middle English porpeys, purpeys, borrowed from Anglo-Norman porpeis, purpeis, Old French pourpois, porpois, pourpais, porpeis (“porpoise”), from Vulgar Latin *porcopiscis (“porpoise”, literally “hog-fish”), taken from Latin porcus (“hog, pig”) + piscis (“fish”). Compare (in transposed order) obsolete Italian pesce porco and Portuguese peixe porco; also Latin porcus marīnus (“sea hog”); akin in formation to Frankish *mariswīn (“porpoise, dolphin”) (whence German Meerschwein, English mereswine). Displaced native Middle English brunswyn. More at mereswine.

porpoise means A small cetacean of the family Phocoenidae, related to dolphins and whales. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 82 out of 100.

noun

A small cetacean of the family Phocoenidae, related to dolphins and whales.“Near-synonyms: sea hog, sea pig, seaswine, mereswine”
Any small dolphin.

verb

Said of an air-breathing aquatic animal such as a porpoise or penguin: To repeatedly jump out of the water to take a breath and dive back in a continuous motion.“Urging them to join me, I raced in circles through the surging water, chased my tail for the children, blew spouts of foam through the sunfilled spray, porpoised to and fro across the river in shallow leaps that stitched the air and water into a table-lace of foam.”
Said of an aircraft: to make a series of plunges when taking off or landing; or of a watercraft: to successively plunge up and down in the water.