Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Either of two nocturnal, burrowing, egg-laying mammals of the genera Tachyglossus and Zaglossus of Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea, having a spiny coat, slender snout, and an extensible sticky tongue used for catching insects. Also called spiny anteater.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In ichthyology, a genus of anguilliform fishes: generally accounted a synonym of Muræna. Forster, 1778.
- n. In herpetology, a genus of reptiles: used by Wagler and others for the genus of vipers (Viperidæ) called Bitis by Gray and Cope. Merrem, 1820.
- n. In mammalogy:
- n. The typical genus of the family Echidnidæ, containing the aculeated ant-eater or spiny ant-eater of Australia and Tasmania, E. hystrix or aculeata, and another species, E. lawesi of New Guinea, together with a fossil one, E. oweni. They have 5 toes on each foot; the snout is straight and moderately developed. Tachyglossus is the same, and is the name properly to be used for this genus according to zoological rules of nomenclature, the name Echidna having been preoccupied in another sense, though it has most currency in this sense. See Acanthoglossus, ant-eater.
Cuvier, 1797. - n. [lowercase] A species of the genus Echidna or family Echidnidæ. The echidna resembles a large hedgehog, excepting that the spines are much longer, and the snout is long and slender, with a small aperture at the end for the protrusion of the long, flexible, worm-like tongue. The animal is nocturnal, fossorial, and insectivorous, and catches insects with its long, sticky tongue, whence it is known as the porcupine ant-eater. The echidna is closely related to the ornithorhynchus, or duck-billed platypus, and, like it, is oviparous.
- n. A genus of echinoderms.
Wiktionary
- n. Any of the four species of small spined monotremes, also known as a spiny anteaters, found in Australia and southern New Guinea.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Gr. Myth.) A monster, half maid and half serpent.
- n. (Zoöl.) A genus of Monotremata found in Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. They are toothless and covered with spines; -- called also
porcupine ant-eater , andAustralian ant-eater .
WordNet 3.0
- n. a burrowing monotreme mammal covered with spines and having a long snout and claws for hunting ants and termites; native to New Guinea
- n. a burrowing monotreme mammal covered with spines and having a long snout and claws for hunting ants and termites; native to Australia
Etymologies
- Through Latin, from Ancient Greek ἔχιδνα (ekhidna). Compare ἐχῖνος (ekhinos, "hedgehog"). (Wiktionary)
- Latin, adder, viper, from Greek ekhidna, from ekhis. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Blast, I fell victim to the platypus ... now my echidna is all chittering in the corner about bread on the table, crumbs in the pantry and freelance websites.”
“The long tubular nose of the echidna is the vital spot.”
“Next in size to the echidna is the white-tipped rat (UROMYS HIRSUTIS?), water-loving, nocturnal in its habits, fierce and destructive.”
“By the blacks the echidna, which is known as "Coombee-yan," is placed on the very top of the list of those dainties which the crafty old men reserve for themselves under awe-inspiring penalties.”
“The fact that hibernators are as numerous and as varied as they are - the club includes some ground squirrels and rodents, at least one bird, various snakes and the echidna which is the platypus's closest living relative, among other species - suggests that the biological machinery that's needed for hibernation is both ancient and widespread in the animal kingdom.”
The Washington Post: Many species use hibernation to survive the rigors of winter
“Next in size to the echidna is the white-tipped rat (UROMYS”
“True, the bottle of T.C.P. antiseptic (slightly to the right) is a reminder of splinters, stubbed toes, barnacle cuts from the jetty, and minor sailing accidents but fortunately nobody seems ever to have been seriously injured; never to my knowledge bitten by a snake or poisonous spider, and the only local indigenous wildlife I recall are possums, kookaburras, and a lone echidna which put in an appearance in about 1976.”
“Just like an echidna is protected by spines that stick out in all directions, the ECHIDNA instrument shoots out its lasers at every possible angle to map the environment around and above it.”
“April 6th, 2010 at 1: 48 pm dbadass says: trusting fat guys that run around in the woods playing paintball to defend the homeland is like trusting an ardwolf to worm your echidna ….”
Think Progress » Coburn Implores Audience To Not Be ‘Biased By Fox News’
“Tachyglossus aculeatus – short-beaked echidna, or spiny anteater, wandering along the edge of the Jordan River, Midlands, Tasmania.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘echidna’.
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Australasian mammals
Australasian mammals, monotremes, anteater, duckbill, echidna, giant anteater, ornithorhynchus, platypus, porcupine, water mole, carnivorous marsu..., banded anteater and 220 more...
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the (chained) unbearable cuteness of ...
You know what I'm talking about. Look for the images...
tapir, pangolin, pika, chunky baby chow ..., roundbelly cowfish, tree octopus, turtlenecked stra..., furze-pig, otter, bilby, wallaby, meerkat and 43 more...
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Animals (besides pottos)
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robin, wagtail, frog, bunny, pronk, rabbit, fur, badger, mouse, bee, crepuscular, purr and 140 more...
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minneapolitan's Words
hissyfit, fussbudget, aghast, lament, trichinellosis, tranche, decadent, aspersion, pejorative, aniline, galoshes, accede and 200 more...
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NakedFringe's Words
masticate, chamber, orchid, mandolin, yellow, pomegranate, conundrum, paradox, gyrate, calamitous, opalescent, cacophony and 533 more...
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the gods must be crazy!
quetzalcoatl, baron-samedi, loa, orichas, arianrhod, aine, amaethon, annwn, arnemetia, balor, badbh, bean nighe and 1061 more...
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Some Words I Love to Use
arcology, strumpet, crux, confected, pedant, bluestocking, cogitation, incensed, lovecraftian, cygnet, dactyl, adytum and 539 more...
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logophile
viresce, infinitum, transient, nonpareil, anon, therianthropy, lycomania, halcyon, unblinkered, seraphim, nephilim, moros and 160 more...
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Australian Fauna
endemic species of terra australis
phascogale, wombat, ornithoryncus, wambenger, tuan, potoroo, platypus, echidna, bilby, bandicoot, antechinus, numbat and 101 more...
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Words of the Day
glabella, chirotony, nook-shotten, crapehanger, filemot, swirlie, egosurf, lexiphanicism, Ruritanian, stichometry, chrononaut, faldstool and 2031 more...
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Animals With Nifty Names
hamster, gerbil, ferret, horse, skink, newt, shark, octopus, weasel, panda, giraffe, hyena and 129 more...
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Evin290's Words
puerile, fastidious, blatherskite, folderol, femtosecond, redox, incarnadine, cerulean, genuflection, muslin, multitudinous, miasma and 517 more...
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Demongering
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diablerie, grimoire, ouija, dybbuk, sciomancy, necromancy, cacodemon, fallen angel, choronzon, kokomo, demonology, lilith and 650 more...
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Critters
cockle, cicada, appaloosa, brachiopod, bivalve, aye-aye, cygnet, alewife, chamois, ermine, drake, dugong and 381 more...
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Seven Letters of Joy
tertile, retinol, opacity, ceilidh, opaline, doughty, luddite, languor, buccula, sillage, delphic, surfeit and 32 more...
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animalia
Creatures with interesting names/lives.
salamander, badger, varmint, wombat, skink, tortoise, pika, gnu, pangolin, porpoise, serval, walrus and 53 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for echidna.
chained_bear New conversation spawned on monotreme. Apparently the long-beaked echidna is native to New Guinea, making false the OED's statement that all echidnas are Australian (right on, Weirdnet!).... But glad to have found this page again!
P.S. See here. Jun 10, 2009
kalayzich echidna is a greek word meaning viper and Jesus
called the pharisees
echidnas ie vipers May 17, 2009
frindley Two tails?! That's nothing. The male echidna has, they tell me, a four-headed penis. Even the Greeks didn't think of that.
And yes, a "damn cute little spiky critter" is by far the best definition. Oct 9, 2008
yarb You're on fire, qroqqa. Righteous etymology! Jul 30, 2008
qroqqa Echidna is the Greek for "adder, viper". An echidna looks like a hedgehog, not like an adder. Consult a middling-sized Classical Greek dictionary and look up echidna, and run your finger down one further. You will find echinos "hedgehog".
Now for the cover-up. They (the Zoologists' Cabal) then renamed the echidna genera Tachyglossus and Zaglossus, from tachy- "fast", gloss- "tongue", and za- "my, what a"; thus doing the nomenclatural equivalent of looking round with shifty eyes then pointing at its tongue, saying, "Nah, nah, see, when it sticks its tongue out like that to lick up ants, it looks amazingly like an adder sticking its, er, tongue out to, er, smell the air. It does."
I once wrote to Stephen Jay Gould about this, and even broke out into green biro at the crucial point. But did I get any acknowledgement for my pioneering work? Not a sausage. Jul 30, 2008
whichbe In Greek mythology, Echidna was a female demon who was referred to as the Mother of all Monsters. She is accredited with mothering virtually every major monster in Greek mythology. She is depicted as having the face and torso of a beautiful woman, sometimes would have wings, and would always have the body of a serpent. Sometimes, she would be depicted as having two tails.
(from Mystical Creature A Day) May 29, 2008
reesetee OR: In Greek mythology, a half-woman and half-snake, the mother of various monsters. Feb 24, 2007
chained_bear According to the OED:
A genus of Australian toothless burrowing monotremate mammals (family Echidnidæ), resembling hedgehogs in size and external appearance. In several points their structure is allied to that of birds. The best known species is E. Hystrix, the Porcupine Ant-eater.
According to me:
A damn cute little spiky critter. Feb 6, 2007