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porcupinefish

American

[pawr-kyuh-pahyn-fish] / ˈpɔr kyəˌpaɪnˌfɪʃ /

noun

any of several fishes of the family Diodontidae, especially Diodon hystrix, of tropical seas, capable of inflating the body with water or air until it resembles a globe, with erection of the long spines covering the skin.

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

Etymology

Origin of porcupinefish

First recorded in 1675–85; porcupine + fish

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.