Dictionary

spine pig en · NOUN

Etymology

From spine + pig, literal translation of porcupine.

Meanings

1. Porcupine.
   • "Spine-swine (the edgehog misnamed hedgehog)," echidna, echinoderm, rhino, the spine pig or porcupine — "everything is battle-dressed"; [...] 1953, Randall Jarrell, Poetry and the age:
   • Hares are fairly common, so also is the fretful porcupine, who, if he finds his way into your kitchen-garden, will play havoc with your pet vegetables. He is accounted delicate eating, this 'spine pig,' as the natives call him; [...] 1884, James Hogg, Florence Marryat, London society:
   • Spine pig, spine pig, say me true, how your flesh befits a you so articulate in joint as to sharpen to your point. I've kept dogs ten thousand days; dodge my fears and play my joys out there in the forest's maze, [...] 2006, Wayne Clifford, The Book of Were:

Forms