Found 1 items, similar to Skunk porpoise.
English → English (gcide)
Definition: Skunk porpoise
Skunk
\Skunk\, n. [Contr. from the Abenaki (American Indian)
seganku.] (Zo["o]l.)
Any one of several species of American musteline carnivores
of the genus
Mephitis and allied genera. They have two
glands near the anus, secreting an extremely fetid liquid,
which the animal ejects at pleasure as a means of defense.
[1913 Webster]
Note: The common species of the Eastern United States
(
Mephitis mephitica) is black with more or less white
on the body and tail. The spotted skunk (
Spilogale putorius
), native of the Southwestern United States
and Mexico, is smaller than the common skunk, and is
variously marked with black and white.
[1913 Webster]
Skunk bird,
Skunk blackbird (Zo["o]l.), the bobolink; --
so called because the male, in the breeding season, is
black and white, like a skunk.
Skunk cabbage (Bot.), an American aroid herb (
Symplocarpus f[oe]tidus
) having a reddish hornlike spathe in earliest
spring, followed by a cluster of large cabbagelike leaves.
It exhales a disagreeable odor. Also called
swamp cabbage
.
Skunk porpoise. (Zo["o]l.) See under
Porpoise.
[1913 Webster]
Porpoise
\Por"poise\, n. [OE. porpeys, OF. porpeis, literally,
hog fish, from L. porcus swine + piscis fish. See
Pork, and
Fish.]
1. (Zo["o]l.) Any small cetacean of the genus
Phoc[ae]na,
especially
Phoc[ae]na communis, or
Phoc[ae]na phoc[ae]na
, of Europe, and the closely allied American
species (
Phoc[ae]na Americana). The color is dusky or
blackish above, paler beneath. They are closely allied to
the dolphins, but have a shorter snout. Called also
harbor porpoise,
herring hag,
puffing pig, and
snuffer.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Zo["o]l.) A true dolphin (
Delphinus); -- often so
called by sailors.
[1913 Webster]
Skunk porpoise, or
Bay porpoise (Zo["o]l.), a North
American porpoise (
Lagenorhynchus acutus), larger than
the common species, and with broad stripes of white and
yellow on the sides. See Illustration in Appendix.
[1913 Webster]