Word: hedgehog Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English heyghoge; equivalent to hedge + hog. Eclipsed non-native Middle English yrchoun, irchoun (“hedgehog”), from Old French hirchoun, herichon (“hedgehog”); and displaced earlier Middle English il, from Old English īl, iġil (“hedgehog”). In the philosophical sense, from the 1953 essay The Hedgehog and the Fox by Isaiah Berlin. Compare typologically Korean 고슴도치 (goseumdochi) (<<+ Middle Korean 돝 (twoth, “pig, swine”)). Pronunciation: /ˈhɛd͡ʒ.hɒɡ/, /ˈhɛd͡ʒ.hɔɡ/ 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. Example: [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: […] Example: Among the Romans the genital organ of the hedgehog and the wolf were among the ingredients used in aphrodisiac concoctions. 2. Any of several spiny mammals, such as the porcupine, that are similar to the hedgehog. Labels: US 3. Ellipsis of Czech hedgehog (“an antitank obstacle constructed from three steel rails”). Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis Example: Ukrainian civilians have been DIY-ing hedgehogs, welding two bars or beams at an angle to make a cross and then adding a third to ensure it holds its shape even if it's knocked over. 4. 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. Labels: historical, informal 5. A type of chocolate cake (or slice), somewhat similar to an American brownie. Labels: Australia Example: 2005, Paul Mitchell, The Favourite, Frank Moorhouse, The Best Australian Stories 2005, page 145, There are hedgehogs with sultanas as well as breadcrumbs, carrot cakes and fruitcakes and banana walnut loaves. Example: I am so flustered that I order a vanilla slice instead of hedgehog. 6. A form of dredging machine. Example: 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 by the current, thereby scouring the bed. Such a machine, called a hedgehog, is still used in Lincolnshire. 7. Certain flowering plants with parts resembling a member of family Erinaceidae 8. Certain flowering plants with parts resembling a member of family Erinaceidae 9. The edible fungus Hydnum repandum. Example: Hedgehogs fruit from autumn until late spring. Many consumers are still unfamiliar with hedgehogs, and they have a relatively small commercial trade. 10. A kind of electrical transformer with open magnetic circuit, the ends of the iron wire core being turned outward and presenting a bristling appearance. 11. A way of serving food at a party, consisting of a half melon or potato etc. with individual cocktail sticks of cheese and pineapple stuck into it. 12. A type of plane curve; see Hedgehog (geometry). 13. Someone who has one big overarching personal philosophy or worldview. Example: Austin was patiently and painstakingly concerned with truth within limitations. He was a hedgehog, not a fox. Example: Dewey was a hedgehog rather than a fox; he spent his life trying to articulate and restate a single vision, and in the writings of his third decade he already exhibits the tension I have claimed to find in the later writings.