DOLPHIN

noun Etymology: Middle English delphyn, dolphyn, from Anglo-French delphin, alteration of Old French dalfin, from Medieval Latin dalfinus, alteration of Latin delphinus, from Greek delphin-, delphis; akin to Greek delphys womb, Sanskrit garbha Date: 14th century 1. a. any of various small marine toothed whales (family Delphinidae) with the snout more or less elongated into a beak and the neck vertebrae partially fused, any of several related chiefly freshwater toothed whales (as of the family Platanistidae), porpoise 1, either of two active pelagic bony food fishes ( Coryphaena equiselis and C. hippuras of the family Coryphaenidae) of tropical and temperate seas, Delphinus , a spar or buoy for mooring boats