porcupine
any of several rodents covered with stiff, sharp, erectile spines or quills, as Erethizon dorsatum of North America.
Origin of porcupine
1Dictionary.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. RobertsThe quills of the porcupines (greatly developed and stiffened hairs) have a slight commercial value.
A Civic Biology | George William HunterThese two porcupines found the herring-tub delicious beyond anything they had ever tasted.
The Backwoodsmen | Charles G. D. RobertsHe made another cautious advance, hoping that the porcupines might retire discreetly.
The Backwoodsmen | Charles G. D. RobertsWhen 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
/ (ˈpɔːkjʊˌpaɪn) /
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
1Derived 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
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