hedge-hog

Noun

hedgehog (plural hedgehogs)

1. A small mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, characterized by their spiny back and often by the habit of rolling up into a ball when attacked, native to Afro-Eurasia.
   • [L]ike Hedg-hogs vvhich / Lye tumbling in my bare-foote vvay, and mount / Their pricks at my foot-fall: ſometime am I / All vvound vvith Adders, vvho vvith clouen tongues / Doe hiſſe me into madneſſe: […]1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...

   Synonyms:

   urchin, furze-pig, fuzz-pig, hedgepig, hedgy-boar, prickly-pig, Erinaceus europaeus

2. (US) Any of several spiny mammals, such as the porcupine, that are similar to the hedgehog.
3. (historical, informal) A spigot mortar-type of depth charge weapon from World War II that simultaneously fires a number of explosives into the water to create a pattern of underwater explosions intended to attack submerged submarines.
4. (Australia) A type of chocolate cake (or slice), somewhat similar to an American brownie.
   • There are hedgehogs with sultanas as well as breadcrumbs, carrot cakes and fruitcakes and banana walnut loaves.2005, Paul Mitchell, The Favourite, Frank Moorhouse, The Best Australian Stories 2005, page 145
5. A form of dredging machine.
   • The first machines merely loosened, but did not raise the stuff, a scouring being afterwards effected by means of sluices. These machines consisted of large bars or prongs placed vertically in a frame, and being fastened to a barge placed in the line of the sluices, the whole was inpelled forward...1868, “Dredging”, in Charles Tomlinson, editor, Cyclopædia of Useful Arts, Mechanical and Chemical, Manufactures, Mining, and Engineering, volume 1, page 520
6. Medicago intertexta, the pods of which are armed with short spines.

   Synonyms:

   Calvary clover, Calvary medick, hedgehog medick

See all 15 meanings of hedgehog