porcupine : Idioms & Phrases

Index

brush-tail porcupine

  • noun porcupine with a tuft of large beaded bristles on the tail
    brush-tail porcupine.
WordNet

brush-tailed porcupine

  • noun porcupine with a tuft of large beaded bristles on the tail
    brush-tail porcupine.
WordNet

Canada porcupine

  • noun porcupine of northeastern North America with barbed spines concealed in the coarse fur; often gnaws buildings for salt and grease
    Erethizon dorsatum.
WordNet
  • (Zoöl.) See Porcupine, and Urson.
Webster 1913

long-tailed porcupine

  • noun porcupine of Borneo and Sumatra having short spines and a long tail
    Trichys lipura.
WordNet

new world porcupine

  • noun arboreal porcupine
WordNet

old world porcupine

  • noun terrestrial porcupine
WordNet

Porcupine ant-eater

  • (Zoöl.), the echidna.
Webster 1913

porcupine ball

  • noun meat patties rolled in rice and simmered in a tomato sauce
    porcupines.
WordNet

Porcupine crab

  • (Zoöl.), a large spiny Japanese crab (Acantholithodes hystrix).
Webster 1913

Porcupine disease

  • (Med.). See Ichthyosis.
Webster 1913

Porcupine fish

  • noun spines become erect when the body is inflated; worldwide in warm waters
    Diodon hystrix; porcupinefish.
WordNet
  • (Zoöl.), any plectognath fish having the body covered with spines which become erect when the body is inflated. See Diodon, and Globefish.
Webster 1913

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. See Illustration in Appendix.
Webster 1913

porcupine provision

  • noun a measure undertaken by a corporation to discourage unwanted takeover attempts
    shark repellent.
WordNet

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.
Webster 1913

sea porcupine

Sea" por"cu*pine
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) Any fish of the genus Diodon, and allied genera, whose body is covered with spines. See Illust. under Diodon.
Webster 1913

Tree porcupine

  • (Zoöl.), any one of several species of Central and South American arboreal porcupines belonging to the genera Chætomys and Sphingurus. They have an elongated and somewhat prehensile tail, only four toes on the hind feet, and a body covered with short spines mixed with bristles. One South American species (S. villosus) is called also couiy; another (S. prehensilis) is called also c&oe;ndou.
Webster 1913