porcupine

[ pawr-kyuh-pahyn ]
See synonyms for porcupine on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. any of several rodents covered with stiff, sharp, erectile spines or quills, as Erethizon dorsatum of North America.

Origin of porcupine

1
1375–1425; late Middle English porcupyne, variant of porcapyne; replacing porke despyne<Middle French porc d'espine thorny pig. See pork, spine

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use porcupine in a sentence

  • But fortunately for him the ewe understood the peculiarities of porcupines.

    The Watchers of the Trails | Charles G. D. Roberts
  • The quills of the porcupines (greatly developed and stiffened hairs) have a slight commercial value.

    A Civic Biology | George William Hunter
  • These two porcupines found the herring-tub delicious beyond anything they had ever tasted.

    The Backwoodsmen | Charles G. D. Roberts
  • He made another cautious advance, hoping that the porcupines might retire discreetly.

    The Backwoodsmen | Charles G. D. Roberts
  • When night came, and neither weasels nor porcupines had given any further sign of their existence, Mrs. Gammit was puzzled.

    The Backwoodsmen | Charles G. D. Roberts

British Dictionary definitions for porcupine

porcupine

/ (ˈpɔːkjʊˌpaɪn) /


noun
  1. any of various large hystricomorph rodents of the families Hystricidae, of Africa, Indonesia, S Europe, and S Asia, and Erethizontidae, of the New World. All species have a body covering of protective spines or quills

Origin of porcupine

1
C14 porc despyne pig with spines, from Old French porc espin; see pork, spine

Derived forms of porcupine

  • porcupinish, adjective
  • porcupiny, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012