dolphin
Pluraldolphins
- 1The bottlenose, the best-known kind of friendly sea mammal, with a short, thick snout and a curved mouth.
Like the smiling gray sea animal you see doing tricks at a marine park.
A bottlenose dolphin leapt clear of the wake, then circled back toward the swimmers.
The aquarium's oldest bottlenose dolphin has lived there for thirty years.
Similarbottlenose
- 2A smart sea animal that breathes air, eats fish, and sometimes swims up to people.
Like a swimmer who must keep coming up for air, even though it lives in the sea.
A dolphin can recognize itself in a mirror, a sign of advanced intelligence.
Sailors often watch dolphins ride the bow wave of their ship.
Note
- 3A brightly colored fish, also called mahi-mahi, with one long fin running down its whole back.
My uncle hooked a dolphin from the boat, and it jumped twice before he reeled it in.
Anglers love the dolphin for its shifting blue-and-gold colors.
Similarmahi-mahi, dorado, dolphinfish
Note
- 4The oldest son of the king of France, who was next in line to rule.
Like the king's oldest son, waiting his turn to take the throne.
The young dolphin was crowned within a year of his father's death.
Ambassadors at court bowed first to the king, then to the dolphin.
Similardauphin
Note
- 5A fixed post or frame built in the water to tie up boats or guide ships safely.
Like a strong post out in the water that a boat can hold onto.
The tanker tied up to a dolphin a short distance off the pier.
Engineers drove a new dolphin into the seabed to mark the channel edge.
Note
- 6A strong, fixed guard that protects a bridge or dock from being hit by ice, logs, or ships.
Like a bumper that takes the hit so the thing behind it stays safe.
A concrete dolphin shields the bridge pier from passing barges.
Drifting ice slammed into the dolphin instead of the dock wall.
Similarfender
Note
- 7In old family symbols, a picture of a curved fish with a wide, jagged fin.
The family's shield bore a golden dolphin above a silver wave.
Heralds painted a curved dolphin on the prince's coat of arms.
Note
- 8
- 9A floating buoy or pole held down by an anchor, with a ring that ships tie their ropes to.
Like a floating ring in the water that boats can clip their ropes onto.
The schooner made fast to a dolphin riding at anchor off the headland.
A ring on the dolphin let several boats secure their cables at once.
Similarbuoy
Note
- 10A ring or pad made of rope braided together, used on a ship.
Like a thick braid of rope, woven the way you braid hair.
The bosun braided a fresh dolphin to pad the spar against chafing.
An old dolphin of tarred rope still hung from the mast.
Note
- 11A heavy lump of iron or lead, hung up high and dropped to smash through an enemy ship and sink it.
Like a heavy weight dropped from above to crack a ship open like a nut.
The crew hauled the dolphin up to the yardarm before the two ships closed.
A well-aimed dolphin could punch straight through an enemy's deck.
Note
- 12Someone who buys new shares only to sell them again right away for a quick profit.
Like someone who buys concert tickets just to sell them again at a higher price.
Every dolphin in the room dumped the new stock within hours of the listing.
Banks try to weed out the dolphins who flip a fresh offering for a fast gain.
Note
Less common meaning
- 13On an old cannon, one of the handles above the side pins, used to lift the gun.
Note
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of dolphin apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origins
It comes through Middle English and Latin from an Ancient Greek word for dolphin, linked to a word meaning "womb." The spelling with -ol- was probably shaped by the French word dauphin.
It goes back to the 3rd Duke of Alba, who first built this kind of structure in the 16th century. It may come from the Dutch word dukdalf, with the first part dropped.