Ur"chin (?), n. [OE. urchon, irchon, a hedgehog, OF. ire&cced;on, eri&cced;on, herion, herichon, F. h'erisson, a derivative fr. L. ericius, from er a hedgehog, for her; akin to Gr. . Cf. Herisson.]
1. Zool.
A hedgehog.
2. Zool.
A sea urchin. See Sea urchin.
3.
A mischievous elf supposed sometimes to take the form a hedgehog.
"We 'll dress [them] like
urchins, ouphes, and fairies."
Shak.
4.
A pert or roguish child; -- now commonly used only of a boy.
And the urchins that stand with their thievish eyes
Forever on watch ran off each with a prize.
W. Howitt.
You did indeed dissemble, you urchin you; but where's the girl that won't dissemble for an husband?
Goldsmith.
5.
One of a pair in a series of small card cylinders, arranged around a carding drum; -- so called from its fancied resemblance to the hedgehog.
Knight.
Urchin fish Zool., a diodon.
© Webster 1913.
Ur"chin, a.
Rough; pricking; piercing.
[R.] "Helping all
urchin blasts."
Milton.
© Webster 1913.