porcupine

porcupine, n.
  (ˈpɔːkjʊpaɪn)
  Forms: see below.
  [ME. porke despyne, porkepyn, etc., a. OF. and Pr. porc espin (c 1220 in Godef.), also porc d'espine (c 1275) = Sp. puerco espin, Pg. porco espinho, It. porcospino (also porco spinoso), corresp. to a L. type *porcus spinus; f. porco, porc:—L. porcus hog, pig + spino, espin, épin, deriv. of L. spīna thorn (cf. L. spīnus, Sp. espin, OF. espin a thorn-tree). The genesis of the compound is not very clear, unless it began as short for porco spinoso:—L. type *porcus spīnōsus spiny or prickly pig. The β, γ, and δ forms appear to be English corruptions, due to imperfect apprehension of the foreign word, and to ‘popular etymology’ identifying the ending with pen, point, etc.; the type portepyne may have arisen out of F. por(c) d'épin, with c mute. The ε forms really represent a different compound, viz. F. porc-épic, in 16th c. porc-espic, OF. and Pr. porc-espi (13th c. in Littré), in which the second element is F. épi, OF. espi:—L. spīcus, -um, collateral forms of spīca spike. (This form, confined to Fr. and Pr., was prob. and alteration of porc espin.)]
  1. a. A rodent quadruped of the genus Hystrix or family Hystricidæ, having the body and tail covered with defensive erectile spines or quills; formerly supposed to shoot or dart its spines at an enemy.
  The Old-World porcupines (subfamily Hystricinæ) are terrestrial, and have long quills, variegated in colour, and often used for penholders; the New-World porcupines (subfamily Sphingurinæ or Synetherinæ) are more or less arboreal, and have short quills.
  (α) 5 porke despyne, porc de spyne, (5 Sc. porpapyne), 6 porcapyne, porcupyne, porkepyn(e, porkpine, 6–7 porkepine, 7 porkespine, porcuspine, porcupin, porkpen, 6– porcupine.

? a 1400 Morte Arth. 183 Pacokes and plouers in platers of golde, Pygges of porke despyne, þat pasturede neuer. c 1400 Mandeville xxviii. [xxxi.], Wee clepen hem Porcz de Spyne [F. Porcz Spinous, v.rr. porcs espinoys; pors espis]. 1423 Jas. I. Kingis Q. clv, The nyce ape; the werely porpapyne. c 1470 Henryson Mor. Fab. v. (Parl. Beasts) xvi, Otter, and Aip, and Pennit Porcupyne [Bann. MS. porcapyne]. 1530 Palsgr. 256/2 Porkepyn a beest, porc espin. 1538 Elyot, Histrix, icis, a beaste hauyng sharpe prickes on his backe, called a porkpine [1545, 1548, porkepyne]. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 215 The Porkpen hath the longer sharp pointed quilles, and those, when he stretcheth his skin, he sendeth and shooteth from him. Ibid. II. 364 Whatsoever vertue we attribute unto hedgehogs, the same is more effectuall in the porkespine. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 457 Of the Porcuspine or Porcupine. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 831 Here are store of Deare, Hares, Conies, Hogs,..Porkepines. 1676 Phil. Trans. XI. 714 That Porcupins kill Lions, by darting into their body their quills. 1795 Southey Joan of Arc vii. 179 Heavy, thick-bristled with the hostile shafts, Even like a porcupine. 1872 Darwin Emotions iv. 93 Porcupines rattle their quills and vibrate their tails when angered.

  (β) 5 portpen, portepyne, 6 porpyn, -in.

1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) iii. viii. 55 These sowles..were al ful of pryckes lyke to a portpen. c 1440 Jacob's Well 154 Lyche a beeste of Inde þat is clepyd a portepyn. 1552 Huloet, Porpyn beaste, hauinge prickes on his backe, histrix. 1570 Levins Manip. 134/13 A Porpin, histrix.

  (γ) 5 poork poynt, porpoynt, perpoynt.

c 1440 Promp. Parv. 409/2 Poork poynt,..(or perpoynt,..MS. S. porpoynte).

  (δ) 6 porpantine, -pentyn, -pintine, purpentine, 6–7, 20 (humorous) porpentine, (6 porcuntine).
  (Porpentine was the form known to Shakes. who uses it 7 times, in 4 of these as the sign of an inn.)

1530 in Ancestor xi. (1904) 180 Prestwich..beryth to his creest a porpantine in his kinde. 1545 R. Ascham Toxoph. i. (Arb.) 31 Nature gaue example of shotyng first, by the Porpentine, which shote his prickes. 1562 W. Bullein Bulwark, Bk. Simples 80 b, What is the nature of a beast called the Porpintine? 1585 Greene Planetomachia Wks. (Grosart) V. 97 The enuious Porcuntine, who coueting to strike others with her pennes leaueth her selfe void of any defence. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie ii. xi. [xii.] (Arb.) 118 The Purpentines nature is, to such as stand aloofe, to dart her prickles from her. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. i. 363 And fought so long, till that his thighes with Darts Were almost like a sharpe-quill'd Porpentine. 1602 ― Ham. i. v. 20 Each particular haire to stand an end, Like Quilles vpon the fretfull Porpentine. 1657 Howell Londinop. 24 Leopards, Linxes, and Porpentines. 1936 T. S. Eliot Coll. Poems 1909-1935 147 How unpleasant to meet Mr. Eliot! With a bobtail cur In a coat of fur And a porpentine cat.

  (ε) 6 porkenpick, pork(e)pik, porkspik, porcupike, 6–7 porkespick(e, 7 porke-espike, porcke-spicke, 8 (humorous) porcupig.

1561 Hollybush Hom. Apoth. 13 They cluster together lyke porkenpickes. 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa ii. 90 Their game were hare, deere, porcupikes. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 750 Pater nosters and chaines, enterlaced made of the haire of the Porkespicke died of diuers colours. a 1700 Dragon of Wantley 84 in Percy Reliques (1765) III. iii. xi. 283 You would have thought him for to be, Some Egyptian porcupig.

  b. A figure of this animal, esp. as a device. Order of the Porcupine (F. ordre du Porc-épic): see quot. 1725.

1578 Inv. R. Wardr. (1815) 248 Ane cannon of the fonte merkit with the porkspik. Ibid. 250 Ane uther cannon..markit with the porkpik. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie ii. xi. (Arb.) 118 He gaue for his deuice the Porkespick. 1725 Coats Dict. Heraldry 279 Lewis [XII] of France..in the year 1394..instituted this Order of the Porcupine, which he had before chosen for his Device.

  † c. Old name of a certain fixed star. Obs.

1503 Kalender of Sheph. I. vij, Wnder the syng of lybra..wnder ys xvii. degre so aleftys oon stern fyxyt, that oon that the sheppars callys pork apyk [ed. 1506 porcarpyke].

  d. English porcupine: applied to the hedgehog.

1834 M. Howitt Sk. Nat. Hist. (1851) 111 Thou poor little English porcupine.

  2. fig. a. Applied allusively to a person. b. In quot. 1861, a prickly multitude (of pens).

1594 ? Greene Selimus Wks. (Grosart) XIV. 286 What are the vrchins crept out of their dens, Vnder the conduct of this porcupine? 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. ii. i. 27 Ther. Thou art proclaim'd a foole... Aia. Do not Porpentine, do not; my fingers itch. 1861 W. J. Fitzpatrick Life Doyle (1880) II. 7 This letter to Lord Farnham drew forth a porcupine of pens.

  † 3. Name of a form in which meat was dressed.

1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 89, To make a Porcupine of a Breast of Veal. Ibid. 299 To make a cold Porcupine of Beef.

  4. Applied to machines or mechanical devices having numerous projecting spikes or teeth; esp. an apparatus for heckling flax, worsted, or cotton; a kind of masher used in brewing.

1869 W. Molyneux Burton-on-Trent 243 note, At some of the breweries the porcupine is supplanted by an instrument known as Steele's Patent Mashing Machine. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Porcupine, a heckling apparatus for flax; or a cylindrical heckle for worsted yarn. 1891 R. Marsden Cotton Spinning (ed. 4) 87 This porcupine is another opener, whose chief difference from the willow [etc.].

  5. a. A small Australian monotreme, the echidna or spiny ant-eater, Tachyglossus aculeatus. b. = porcupine fish: see 6.

1832 J. Bischoff Sk. Hist. Van Diemen's Land ii. 29 The native porcupine or echidna is not very common. 1843 J. Backhouse Narr. Visit Austral. Colonies vii. 89 The Porcupine of this land..is a squat species of ant-eater, with short quills among its hair. 1875 Melbourne Spectator 4 Sept. 213/2 The echidna, or native porcupine. 1888 Goode Amer. Fishes 205 In this limpid pool were..the angel-fish, the parrot fish,..the porcupine. 1924 Truth (Sydney) 27 Apr. 6 Porcupine, a rather large rodent with spiked quills, and which feeds chiefly upon bark, leaves and ants. 1944 Living off Land ii. 29 The spiny ant-eater (sometimes called porcupine) is a good food. 1970 W. D. L. Ride Guide Native Mammals Austral. xii. 191 The most widespread Australian monotreme is the Echidna or Spiny-anteater which is called ‘The Porcupine’ by many country people.

  6. attrib. and Comb., as porcupine mustachio, porcupine quill, porcupine skin, porcupine tribe; porcupine-backed, porcupine-like adjs.; porcupine ant-eater = sense 5 a; porcupine crab, a Japanese crab (Lithodes hystrix), having spiny carapace and limbs; porcupine disease, a malformation of the skin characterized by the growth of spine-like projections (Billings Med. Dict.); porcupine fish, a fish having the skin covered with spines, as Diodon hystrix; a sea-porcupine; porcupine grass, name for (a) Triodia irritans and other species, of Australia, with stiff sharp-pointed leaves; (b) Stipa spartea, of the western U.S., with long stiff awns; hence porcupine-grass ant, an Australian ant (Hypoclinia flavipes) which makes its nest round the root of a species of porcupine grass (Triodia pungens); porcupine hair (Path.) = hystriciasis; porcupine man (Path.), a man affected with porcupine disease; porcupine roller, a roller in a spinning-machine, set with projecting spikes (cf. 4); porcupine skin disease, = porcupine disease; † porcupine stone, a hard concretion alleged to be found in the head or body of a porcupine; porcupine teeth, the teeth of a contrivance for carding wool; porcupine-wood, the wood of the coco palm, which when cut across shows variegated markings like those of a porcupine-quill.

1847 *Porcupine ant-eater [see Echidna]. 1860 G. Bennett Gatherings of Naturalist in Australasia vii. 147 The Porcupine Ant⁓eater of Australia..and the Ornithorhynchus..form the only two genera of the order Monotremata.

1867 Wood Pop. Nat. Hist. I. 247 Echidna or Porcupine Ant-eater.—Echidna Hystrix. 1899 Daily News 10 Apr. 8/2 The duck-billed platypus and the porcupine ant-eater, two of the chief objects of the expedition.

1598 E. Guilpin Skial. (1878) 52 Gulfe-brested is he, silent, and profound *Porpentine backed, for he lies on thornes.

1681 Grew Musæum i. v. ii. 106 A sort of *Porcupine-Fish. 1773 Gentl. Mag. XLIII. 220 From these I will proceed to the exotics,..the Porcupine Fish, the Porcupine Globe Fish, the Porcupine Bladder Fish. 1885 A. Brassey The Trades 407 ‘Porcupine-fish’ (Chilomycterus reticulatus), looking..very much more like hedgehogs swimming about than porcupines.

1830 P. J. Holdsworth Station-hunting on Warrego, Rough tufts of bristly grass..stemmed like quills (and thence termed ‘*porcupine’). 1902 Westm. Gaz. 2 Apr. 10/2 The desert North of Lake Eyre, where the vegetation consists largely of porcupine grass—a serious obstacle to explorers and useless as fodder.

1822 Good Study Med. IV. 686 The hystriacis or *porcupine hair of Plenck.

1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. vii. (1878) 201 Monstrosities, such as six-fingered men, *porcupine men.

1603 Dekker Wonderfull Yeare B ij, The quills of his stiffe *Porcupine mustachio.

1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 5 Her body is..stuck all over with great black Bristles, like *Porcupine quills, set all in parallel order. 1836 W. Irving Astoria II. 51 A spear or bow decorated with beads, porcupine quills and painted feathers.

1884 W. S. B. M{supc}Laren Spinning (ed. 2) 107 A revolving brush, or star wheel, or *porcupine roller, is placed at h,..which guides the fibres forward.

1809 A. Henry Trav. 146 The fat of our deer was melted down, and the oil filled six *porcupine-skins.

1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 670 *Porcupine skin disease.

1676 Phil. Trans. XI. 757 There is another Stone, highly esteem'd, called the *Porcupine stone, which is in the head of this Animal, though sometimes also in its belly.

1845 Specif. Lister's Patent No. 11004. 2 Card, or what are known in the trade as ‘*porcupine teeth’ are caused to operate upon wool to comb the same.

1857 Henfrey Bot. §569 The wood of the Cocoa-nut Palms..(*Porcupine-wood). 1887 C. A. Moloney Forestry W. Afr. 441 The wood is commercially known as Porcupine wood, and is used in India for rafters and ridge poles, house-posts,..also for spear-handles, walking-sticks, and fancy work.

  Hence ˈporcupinal a., suggestive of a porcupine, prickly (in quot. fig.); ˈporcupine v. trans., to make like a porcupine; to cause (the hair) to stand on end like a porcupine's quills; ˈporcupinish, ˈporcupiny adjs., resembling or suggesting a porcupine.

1716 M. Davies Athen. Brit. II. 139 'Tis not call'd Declamation or Invective, or Satyr, but a certain Mediastin Genius, porcupin'd all over with all the three. 1827 Mirror II. 37/2 Pull your gills and porcupine your hair. 1829 Southey Sir T. More I. 15, I had now..a distinct sense of that sort of porcupinish motion over the whole scalp which is so frequently described by the Latin poets. 1846 R. Ford Gatherings from Spain xii. 139 The nerves tighten up into the catgut of an overstrung fiddle, getting attuned to the porcupinal irritability of the tension of the mind. 1857 R. Williams Rev. Bp. Ollivant's Charge 60 You may goad any one, by three years of organised libelling,..into a porcupinish method of expressing himself. 1890 Sat. Rev. 2 Aug. 151/1 A rather porcupiny, and not wholly consistent bundle [of prejudices].

Oxford English Dictionary