PORCUPINE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Porcupine

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/pˈɔrkjəpˌaɪn/ Listen

noun

Porcupine n.

1.

(Zool.) Any Old Word rodent of the genus Hystrix, having the back covered with long, sharp, erectile spines or quills, sometimes a foot long. The common species of Europe and Asia (Hystrix cristata) is the best known.

2.

(Zool.) Any species of Erethizon and related genera, native of America. They are related to the true porcupines, but have shorter spines, and are arboreal in their habits. The Canada porcupine (Erethizon dorsatus) is a well known species.

Porcupine ant-eater (Zool.), the echidna.

Porcupine crab (Zool.), a large spiny Japanese crab (Acantholithodes hystrix).

Porcupine disease (Med.). See Ichthyosis.

Porcupine fish (Zool.), any plectognath fish having the body covered with spines which become erect when the body is inflated. See Diodon, and Globefish.

Porcupine grass (Bot.), a grass (Stipa spartea) with grains bearing a stout twisted awn, which, by coiling and uncoiling through changes in moisture, propels the sharp-pointed and barbellate grain into the wool and flesh of sheep. It is found from Illinois westward.

Porcupine wood (Bot.), the hard outer wood of the cocoa palm; so called because, when cut horizontally, the markings of the wood resemble the quills of a porcupine.

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Etymology of 'Porcupine'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Porcupine" Quotes from Famous Books

... yellow, are found in the thickly timbered parts of California, and the badger makes his home in the mountain canons or pine woods. There, too, the curious porcupine dwells. He is covered with grayish white quills, which bristle out when he is angry or frightened. No old dog will touch this animal, for he knows better than to get a mouthful of sharp toothpicks by biting Mr. Porcupine, who is like a round pincushion with the pins pointing out. A dog who has ...

— Stories of California • Ella M. Sexton

... where every one gasps, faints, bleeds and dies. Many of the Poets, to describe the Execution which is done by this Passion, represent the Fair Sex as Basilisks that destroy with their Eyes; but I think Mr. Cowley has with greater Justness of Thought compared a beautiful Woman to a Porcupine, that sends an Arrow ...

— The Spectator, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 - With Translations and Index for the Series • Joseph Addison and Richard Steele

... you could not see the houses among the rocks. The valley was just like a porcupine warren. No rock stood out alone: they were all jumbled up together, big and little, with pine trees growing on the tops of them and in between them, up from the earth that was twelve, twenty, or sometimes forty feet below. The whole hollow was a maze of narrow, winding tracks, between rocks ...

— The La Chance Mine Mystery • Susan Carleton Jones

... the forest leaves, and drawn tight over her high cheek bones; her eyes are small and sunken in her head, but the fire has not yet gone out. An old elk skin robe, tattered and torn, is thrown across her shoulders, with its few porcupine quills still hanging by the sinew threads where they were placed a century ago. The last of her race! Yes, long ago her people have become extinct, passed away leaving her to die. But alas, death does not claim her, and she wanders ...

— The Sheep Eaters • William Alonzo Allen

... face was covered by a mask of vegetable fibre which allowed its owner to see and not be seen. Upon the head was worn a cap of wax in which were stuck a great number of arrows, so that it looked just like the back of a disturbed porcupine. ...

— Across Unknown South America • Arnold Henry Savage Landor

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