spiny, a.
(ˈspaɪnɪ)
Also 6 spyny, 6–7 spinie, 7 spynie, 7–9 spiney.
[f. spine n.1 + -y.]
1. a. Having the characteristics of a thorn or thorns; resembling a thorn in form or qualities.
| 1586 Kyd Verses Praise & Joy 1 Mongst spyny cares sprong vp now at the last. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 223 Psiloriti: from whose lofty and spiny top both seas may be discerned. 1663 Cowley Cutter Coleman St. Pref., And so much for this little spiny objection which a man cannot see without a Magnifying Glass. |
b. Thin and hard or dry; spare, lean.
Common in the first half of the 17th
cent.| 1598 Florio, Smilzo, bare, spinie, gant, leane, lanke. 1608 Middleton Mad World iii. ii, A little, short, old spiny gentleman. 1621 G. Sandys Ovid's Met. vi. (1626) 111 Her thighs and legs to spiny fingers grow. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 232 The French commonly have more spinie and slender Legs then the Italian Gentleman. a 1722 [cf. spiny-legged in 5]. |
† c. Of turf or grass.
Obs.| 1607 J. Carpenter Plaine Mans Plough 139 That which was old must be renewed, and the spinie turfe changed into a gentle soyle. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 198 The valley..producing but a spiny grasse. |
2. Abounding in, furnished or thickly set with, thorns. In early
quots. fig.| 1604 T. Wright Passions i. iii. 11 Wee..touched the roote from whence did spring those spinie braunches of briarie passions. 1635 A. Stafford Fem. Glory (1860) 43 Bee constant, most pious Lordes, in the vertuous, though rough and spiny course you are to runne. 1644 Digby Nat. Bodies A iv b, So difficult and spiny an affaire, as the writing vpon such a nice and copious subiect. 1727 Warburton Prodigies 61 The spiney Desarts of Scholastic Philosophy. 1798 C. Smith Yng. Philos. II. 164 The holly, whose shining thorny and spiny head..shadowed the whole eminence. 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 54 Shrubs, either unarmed or spiny. 1870 Hooker Stud. Flora 127 Shrubs or small trees, often spiny. |
3. a. Furnished or set with spines; covered with slender sharp-pointed processes.
| 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 249 The body light, the taile spiny, and the colour dun. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Spine, The hind Part thereof is Edg'd, or Spiny. 1778 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2) III. 1610/1 The strigosus, or plated lobster, with a pyramidal spiny snout. 1804 C. Smith Conversations II. 153 What endless swarms of creatures..Of burnish'd scale and spiny fin! 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVI. 444 Shell oval, spiny or tuberculous. 1883 Standard 3 Aug. 5/7 Two..lizards with remarkable spiney skins. |
| Comb. 1857 T. Moore Handbk. Brit. Ferns (ed. 3) 39 Pinnæ spiny-serrate. |
b. In specific names of animals or fishes, as
spiny ant-eater,
spiny dog fish,
spiny eel,
spiny globe-fish, etc.
spiny rat, a rodent of the family Echimyidæ, found in tropical South and Central America and distinguished by bristly fur.
| 1827 Griffith tr. Cuvier III. 263 The Echidnes,..other⁓wise *Spiny Ant-eaters. 1894–5 Lydekker Roy. Nat. Hist. III. 286 The echidnas, or spiny anteaters, of which there are two species. |
| 1896 Ibid. V. 533 The *spiny dog-fishes, rays, saw-fishes, and their kindred. |
| 1882 Jordan & Gilbert Syn. Fishes N. Amer. 368 Mastacembelidæ. (The *Spiny Eels.) 1896 Lydekker Roy. Nat. Hist. V. 395 The so-called spiny eels of the Oriental region and West Africa. |
| 1834 Griffith tr. Cuvier X. 566 Diodon, (Vulg. *Spiny globe-fish.) |
| 1853 in Morris Austral Eng. (1898) 304/2 The *Spiny Lizard (Moloch horridus) of Western Australia. 1898 Morris Austral Eng. 430 Spiny Lizard, i.q. Mountain Devil. 1819 *Spiny lobster [see lobster1 1 b]. 1862 Ansted Channel Isl. ii. ix. 233 The spiny lobster, locally called cray-fish.., is also very common. 1884 Goode Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim. 780 The Spiny Lobster or Rock Lobster, Panulirus interruptus. |
| 1804 Shaw Gen. Zool. V. i. 4 *Spiny Loche... This is distinguished by a double spine situated on each side the head. |
| 1884 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 6 Acanthomys... *Spiny-mice. 1894–5 Lydekker Roy. Nat. Hist. III. 119 The pretty little murine known as the Malabar spiny-mouse. |
| 1876 A. R. Wallace Geogr. Distrib. Animals II. xvii. 238 The Echimyidæ, or *spiny rats, are a family, chiefly South American. 1924 W. B. Scott Hist. Land Mammals Western Hemisphere v. 184 The spiny rats (Echimys and Loncheres) are so called from their appearance, not because they are related to the true rats. 1974 H. MacInnes Climb to Lost World ix. 147 A spiny rat, a rare creature: Mike Atherley and I both saw it more than once and thought that it had no tail. |
| 1804 Shaw Gen. Zool. V. ii. 342 *Spiny Shark. Squalus Spinosus. 1896 Lydekker Roy. Nat. Hist. V. 535 The spiny shark (Echinorhinus spinosus) of the Mediterranean and Atlantic. |
| 1894–5 Ibid. III. 71 The Ethiopian *spiny squirrels are characterized by their coarse and spiny hair. |
| 1879 E. P. Wright Anim. Life 69 The *Spiny Tanrec (Ericulus spinosus). |
| c 1880 Cassell's Nat. Hist. IV. 256 The *Spiny Trionyx, or Gymnopus. |
4. Having the form of a spine; stiff and sharp-pointed.
| 1828 Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. I. 121 Fur ash gray,..composed of rough spiny hairs. 1871 Huxley Anat. Vert. 318 The inner surface is often armed with spiny developments of the epidermis. |
5. Comb., as
spiny-backed,
spiny-finned,
spiny-footed,
spiny-haired,
spiny-leaved, etc. (Freq. in specific names.)
| 1885 W. T. Hornaday Two Years in Jungle xxvi. 310 The fisher⁓men catch and eat a good many *spiny-backed rays (Urogymnus asperrimus). |
| 1881 Cassell's Nat. Hist. V. 78 Acanthopterygii, or *Spiny-finned fishes. |
| 1802 Shaw Gen. Zool. III. i. 112 *Spiny-footed Frog. Rana Spinipes. 1829 Griffith tr. Cuvier VI. 321 Spiny-footed Tyrant, Tyrannus Calcaratus. |
| 1891 T. Hardy Tess (1900) 67 The pollard willows..became *spiny-haired monsters. |
| 1847 Darlington Amer. Weeds, etc. (1860) 206 The *Spiny-leaved Sow-thistle (Sonchus Asper). |
| a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 226 A *spiny legged beast never pays the grazier so well. |
| 1866 Treas. Bot. 515/1 The leaves are pinnatifid with *spiny-pointed segments. |
| 1880 Günther Fishes 41 The dorsal fin..is either *spiny-rayed, or soft-rayed. 1882 Jordan & Gilbert Syn. Fishes N. Amer. 397 Acanthopteri. (The Spiny-rayed Fishes.) |
| 1831 Griffith tr. Cuvier IX. Syn. 38 *Spiny Tailed Guana. 1877 Newton in Encycl. Brit. VII. 505 The Erismaturinæ or Spiny-tailed Ducks. |