dol·phin

(dŏl′fĭn, dôl′-)

n. pl. dolphin or dol·phins

a. Any of various marine toothed whales of the family Delphinidae, having a beaklike snout, a curved dorsal fin, and a slender streamlined body.

b. Any of several toothed whales inhabiting rivers and estuaries in South America and South Asia, having a long narrow beak, broad flippers, a flexible neck, and usually a reduced dorsal fin. A species native to the Yangtze River is thought to be extinct. Also called river dolphin.

a. See dolphinfish.

b. See pompano dolphinfish.

a. A buoy, pile, or group of piles used for mooring boats.

b. A group of piles used as a fender, as at a dock or around a bridge pier.

[Middle English, from Old French daulfin, blend of daufin and Old Provençal dalfin, both from Medieval Latin *dalfinus, from Latin delphīnus, from Greek delphīs, delphīn-, from delphus, womb (from its shape).]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

dolphin

(ˈdɒlfɪn)

1. (Animals) any of various marine cetacean mammals of the family Delphinidae, esp Delphinus delphis, that are typically smaller than whales and larger than porpoises and have a beaklike snout

2. (Animals) river dolphin any freshwater cetacean of the family Platanistidae, inhabiting rivers of North and South America and S Asia. They are smaller than marine dolphins and have a longer narrower snout

3. (Animals) Also called: dorado either of two large marine percoid fishes, Coryphaena hippurus or C. equisetis, that resemble the cetacean dolphins and have an iridescent coloration

4. (Nautical Terms) nautical a post or buoy for mooring a vessel

[C13: from Old French dauphin, via Latin, from Greek delphin-, delphis]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

dol•phin

(ˈdɒl fɪn, ˈdɔl-)

n.

1. any small toothed cetacean of the family Delphinidae, esp. the species having a beaklike snout. Compare porpoise.

2. Also called dolphinfish , mahimahi. either of two large, slender fishes, Coryphaena hippurus or C. equisetis, of warm and temperate seas.

a. a pile, cluster of piles, or buoy to which a vessel may be moored.

b. a cluster of piles used as a fender, as at the entrance to a dock.

4. (cap.) the constellation Delphinus.

[1300–50; Middle English dolphyn < Old French daulphin « Latin delphīnus < Greek delphin]

dol·phin

(dŏl′fĭn)

1. Any of various, usually ocean-dwelling mammals having a snout shaped like a beak, forelimbs shaped like flippers, and horizontal tail flukes. Dolphins are related to but smaller than whales and are noted for their high intelligence. Compare porpoise.

2. Either of two edible fish that inhabit warm sea waters and have a fin extending along the back. Dolphins are iridescent when removed from the water.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	dolphin - large slender food and game fish widely distributed in warm seas (especially around Hawaii) dolphinfish, mahimahi percoid, percoid fish, percoidean - any of numerous spiny-finned fishes of the order Perciformes Coryphaenidae, family Coryphaenidae - large active pelagic percoid fish Coryphaena hippurus - the more common dolphinfish valued as food; about six feet long Coryphaena equisetis - a kind of dolphinfish dolphinfish, mahimahi - the lean flesh of a saltwater fish found in warm waters (especially in Hawaii) Aloha State, Hawaii, Hawai'i, HI - a state in the United States in the central Pacific on the Hawaiian Islands
	2.	dolphin - any of various small toothed whales with a beaklike snout; larger than porpoises toothed whale - any of several whales having simple conical teeth and feeding on fish etc. Delphinidae, family Delphinidae - dolphins common dolphin, Delphinus delphis - black-and-white dolphin that leaps high out of the water; bottlenose, bottlenose dolphin, bottle-nosed dolphin - any of several dolphins with rounded forehead and well-developed beak; chiefly of northern Atlantic and Mediterranean porpoise - any of several small gregarious cetacean mammals having a blunt snout and many teeth Grampus griseus, grampus - slaty-grey blunt-nosed dolphin common in northern seas killer whale, orca, Orcinus orca, sea wolf, grampus, killer - predatory black-and-white toothed whale with large dorsal fin; common in cold seas black whale, common blackfish, Globicephala melaena, pilot whale, blackfish - small dark-colored whale of the Atlantic coast of the United States; the largest male acts as pilot or leader for the school river dolphin - any of several long-snouted usually freshwater dolphins of South America and southern Asia Delphinapterus leucas, white whale, beluga - small northern whale that is white when adult

dolphin

noun

Related words
collective noun school

see whales and dolphins

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

دُلفيـندولْفين

делфин

delfín

delfinduc d'albe

Delfin Delphin

δελφίνι

delfeno

delfín

delfiini

dauphinduc-d’Albeduc-d'Albe

דולפין

delfin

lumba-lumba

höfrungur

delfino

イルカ

돌고래

delphinus

delfinas

delfīns

delfín

delfin

ปลาโลมา

yunusyunus balığı

cá heo

海豚

dolphin

[ˈdɒlfɪn] N → delfín m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

dolphin

[ˈdɒlfɪn] n → dauphin m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

dolphin

n → Delfin m, → Delphin m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

dolphin

[ˈdɒlfɪn] n (Zool) → delfino

dolphin

(ˈdolfin) noun

a type of sea-animal about two and a half to three metres long, closely related to the porpoise.

dolphin

→ دُلفيـن delfín delfin Delphin δελφίνι delfín delfiini dauphin delfin delfino イルカ 돌고래 dolfijn delfin delfin golfinho дельфин delfin ปลาโลมา yunus cá heo 海豚

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

"Even two, if you want," answered the fish, who happened to be a very polite Dolphin.

View in context

For ever since those inventive but unscrupulous times when on the marble panellings of temples, the pedestals of statues, and on shields, medallions, cups, and coins, the dolphin was drawn in scales of chain-armor like Saladin's, and a helmeted head like St.

View in context

After the punishment of Telphusa for her deceit in giving him no warning of the dragoness at Pytho, Apollo, in the form of a dolphin, brings certain Cretan shipmen to Delphi to be his priests; and the hymn ends with a charge to these men to behave orderly and righteously.

View in context

Much ill-will would also have been required, not to comprehend, through the medium of the poetry of the prologue, that Labor was wedded to Merchandise, and Clergy to Nobility, and that the two happy couples possessed in common a magnificent golden dolphin, which they desired to adjudge to the fairest only.

View in context

When we arrived before day at the inn where the mail stopped, which was not the inn where my friend the waiter lived, I was shown up to a nice little bedroom, with DOLPHIN painted on the door.

View in context

But then there were some sceptical Greeks and Romans, who, standing out from the orthodox pagans of their times, equally doubted the story of Hercules and the whale, and Arion and the dolphin; and yet their doubting those traditions did not make those traditions one whit the less facts, for all that.

View in context

In the morning, Thomas Mugridge being duly bribed, the galley is pleasantly areek with the odour of their frying; while dolphin meat is served fore and aft on such occasions as Johnson catches the blazing beauties from the bowsprit end.

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As they annually tend towards decay, they almost rival in brilliant variety of their gradually changing hues the fleeting shades of the expiring dolphin. The autumnal tints of our American forests, glorious as they are, sink into nothing in comparison with this tree.

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Vainly striving to paint, he would suddenly burst into violent rage, tear up his attempt, stamp it into the deck, then get out his large- calibred automatic rifle, perch himself on the forecastle-head, and try to shoot any stray porpoise, albacore, or dolphin. It seemed to give him great relief to send a bullet home into the body of some surging, gorgeous-hued fish, arrest its glorious flashing motion for ever, and turn it on its side slowly to sink down into the death and depth of the sea.

View in context

THE DOLPHINS and Whales waged a fierce war with each other.

View in context

For hours together we could watch the dolphins and porpoises as they rolled and leaped and dived around the vessel; or those small creatures ever on the wing, the Mother Carey's chickens, which had borne us company from New York bay, and for a whole fortnight fluttered about the vessel's stern.

View in context

I believe in the existence of a mammal power fully organised, belonging to the branch of vertebrata, like the whales, the cachalots, or the dolphins, and furnished with a horn of defence of great penetrating power."

View in context