HEDGEHOG, noun A quadruped, or genus of quadrupeds, the Erinaceus. The common hedgehog has round ears, and crested nostrils; his body is about nine inches long, and the upper part is covered with prickles or spines, and the under part with hair. When attacked, this animal erects his prickles and rolls himself into a round form, which presents the points of the prickles on all sides to an assailant.

1. A term of reproach.

2. A plant of the genus Medicago, or snail-trefoil. The seeds are shaped like a snail, downy, and armed with a few short spines.

3. The globe-fish, orbis echinatus.

This fish belongs to the genus Diodon. It is covered with long spines, and has the power of inflating its body, whence the name globe-fish.

The Sea-hedgehog, is the Echinus, a genus of Zoophytes, generally of a spheroidal or oval form, and covered with movable spines.