/dol"fin, dawl"-/ , n.
1. any of several chiefly marine, cetacean mammals of the family Delphinidae, having a fishlike body, numerous teeth, and the front of the head elongated into a beaklike projection.
2. Also called dolphinfish, mahimahi . either of two large, slender fishes, Coryphaena hippurus or C. equisetis, of warm and temperate seas.
3. Naut.
a. a pile, cluster of piles, or buoy to which a vessel may be moored in open water.
b. a cluster of piles used as a fender, as at the entrance to a dock.
c. a pudding fender at the nose of a tugboat or on the side of a vessel.
4. ( cap. ) Astron. the constellation Delphinus.
[ 1300-50; ME dolphyn daulphin dalfin dalfinus, L delphinus delphín ]