Urchin

Forms: α. 4 vrchun, 4–5 vrchon (5 nurchon, norchon), 4–6 urchone, 5 vrchone, vrchoun(e, 6–7, 8–9 dial. urchon, 7 urchan. β. 5–7 urchen, 6 vrchen, vrchyn, 6–7 vrchin (7 -ine, urching), 7– urchin; 5 norchen, 6, 9 dial. orchen. γ. 5 vrchion (9 dial. urchion), 6 vrcheon, 5, 7, 9 dial. urcheon. δ. 7 orchant, ourchant, 9 dial. urchint, -ont, -ant, -unt. [var. of HURCHEON and IRCHIN, agreeing in vowel with the former, and with the latter in the dropping of h.]

  A.  sb. 1. = HEDGEHOG 1.

  α.  a. 1340.  Hampole, Psalter, ciii. 19. The stone fleyng til vrchuns [L. petra refugium herenacijs].

1382.  Wyclif, Lev. xi. 5. An vrchon, that chewith kude,… is vnclene.

c. 1400.  Rom. Rose, 3135. Like sharp vrchouns his here was growe.

1480.  Caxton, Chron. England, 53 b. Till that his body Stykked as full of arewes as an vrchone is full of prikkes.

a. 1500.  in Rel. Ant., I. 81. A norchon by tho fyre rostyng a greyhownde.

1530.  Palsgr., 285/2. Urchone a beest, herysson.

1676.  Grew, Musæum, Anat. Stomach & Guts, ii. 8. The Gulet of an Urchan enters the Stomach towards the middle.

1683.  in W. S. Banks, Walks Yorks. (1871), 43. To March lad for one urchon, [£]0 0 2.

1750.  J. Collier (Tim Bobbin), Lanc. Dial., Wks. (1862), p. xxxvii. Od rottle the; whot seys to? Hes to foryeat’n th’ Tealier finding th’ Urchon; an th’ Rimes?

1876–.  in Westm., Yks., and Lancs. dialect use (Eng. Dial. Dict.).

  β.  c. 1425.  St. Christina, x., in Anglia, VIII. 123/28. In þe maner of an vrchyn þe lumped body ȝode to þe owne shappe.

14[?].  Nom., in Wr.-Wülcker, 700. Hic urunacius,… a urchen.

1556.  J. Heywood, Spider & Fly, iii. 32. To grounde he shranke Like an vrchyn vnder an aple tree.

1591.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. vii. 683. Thou Sluggard,… Go learn the Emmet’s and the Urchin’s Art.

1624.  Burton, Anal. Mel. (ed. 2), II. iii. VII. 291. As a Tortoise in his shell,… or an Vrchin round,… I decline their fury and am safe.

a. 1653.  G. Daniel, Idyll, v. 98. Stript Porcupine May to an Vrchin, of his wants complaine; Well-thatcht, gainst Winter’s Stormes.

1698.  Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 290. However here are Salmon…, and the Urchin … under the Hedges and Trees of an Orchard.

1779.  Gentl. Mag., 350. The poor persecuted creature to which I allude is the Hedge-hog or Urchin.

1813.  Bingley, Anim. Biog. (ed. 4), I. 349. Urchins … feed, for the most part, on roots, worms, and the larvæ of insects.

1863.  Atkinson, Stanton Grange, 218. Sae, I reckon, it is with the urchin.

1867.  Emerson, May-day, 306. The pebble loosened from the frost Asks of the urchin to be tost.

  γ.  14[?].  in Rel. Ant., I. 51. Tak the grees of an urcheon, and the fatte of a bare.

c. 1475.  Cath. Angl., 404/2. Vrchion, erecius, erinacius.

1522.  Skelton, Why not to Court, 163. They are … Lyke vrcheons in a stone wall.

1895.  J. K. Snowden, Web of Weaver, x. We had no more to liven us than an urcheon has in winter-time.

  δ.  1665–6.  Ormskirk Churchw. Acc. (Lanc. & Chesh. Hist. Soc.), Ser. III. VI. 174. Paid Thos. Mawdsley for one orchant and one kyde [= kite], 00lb. 01s. 06d.

1682.  in W. S. Banks, Walks Yorksh. (1871), 43. Paid for 21 ourchants and 7 fylomots, [£]0 5 10.

1883.  Almondbury Gloss., Urchint, a hedgehog.

1891.  Sheffield Gloss., Suppl. 62. Urchont, a hedgehog.

  b.  Applied allusively to persons (see quots.).

1593.  G. Harvey, Pierce’s Super., 12. But Agrippa was an urcheon, Copernicus a shrimpe, Cardan a puppy,… Cuiacius a bable to this Termagant.

1594.  Selimus, K 1. Enter Selimus … at one door, and Acomat…, Vizier, and their soldiers at another. Sel. What are the vrchins crept out of their dens, Vnder the conduct of this porcupine?

1632.  Heywood, 2nd Pt. Iron Age, I. i. B 2 b. Ther[sites]. By the gods Wee haue two meeting soules: be my sweete Vrchin. Syn[on]. I will, And thou shalt bee mine vgly Toade.

  † c.  A goblin or elf. (From the supposition that they occas. assumed the form of a hedgehog.)

1584.  R. Scot, Discov. Witchcr., VII. xv. 122. They have so fraied us with bull beggers, spirits, witches, urchens, elves,… that [etc.].

1592.  Nashe, Four Lett. Confut., K j b. The Fairies and night Vrchins. Ibid. (1594), Terrors of Night, H j b. An old wiues tale of diuells and vrchins.

1598.  Shaks., Merry W., IV. iv. 49. Wee’l dresse Like Vrchins, Ouphes, and Fairies.

1614.  Hawking, etc. 7, in T. Ravenscroft, Briefe Disc. By the moone we sport and play;… Trip it, little Vrchins all, Lightly as the little little bee.

  2.  transf. † a. Applied to the porcupine. Obs.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), xxxi. 143. Þere ben also vrchounes als grete as wylde swyn here; wee clepen hem Porcz de Spyne.

  b.  A sea-urchin or sen-hedgehog; = ECHINUS 1.

1601.  Holland, Pliny, I. 253. Of the same sort that the Crabs be, are the Vrchins of the sea called Echini.

1661.  Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., 230. Urchin.… The ashes of the shells help sordid ulcers.

1796.  H. Hunter, trans. St.-Pierre’s Stud. Nat., II. 381. The violet-coloured urchins, armed with points and spears.

1845.  Gosse, Ocean, vi. (1849), 277. The irregular movements of the spined urchins.

1853.  Anne Pratt, Common Things Sea-Coast, v. 308. The Purple-tipped Urchin (Echinus miliaris). Ibid. Heart urchins, and Fiddle-heart urchins, and Cake urchins; names all expressive of the shape.

  † c.  U.S. = URSON. Obs. rare.

1796.  Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 201. The Urchin, or Urson,… is commonly called Hedgehog or Porcupine, but differs from both those animals.

  3.  One who is deformed in body; a hunchback. Now dial.

1528.  Roy, Rede me, etc. (Arb.), 43. I trowe the vrchyn will clyme To some promocion hastely.

1607.  Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 278. In English, a Hedghog, or an vrchine: by which name also we call a man that holdeth his Necke in his bosome.

1706.  Phillips (ed. Kersey), Urchin,… a Dwarf.

1821.  Scott, Kenilw., ix. A queer, shambling, ill-made urchin, who, by his stunted growth, seemed about twelve or thirteen years old.

1824.  Byron, Def. Transf., I. i. Bert. Out, hunchback! Arn. I was born so, mother!… Bert. Out, urchin, out!

1891.  Sheffield Gloss., Suppl. 62. Urchont, a humpbacked person.

  4.  A pert, mischievous, or roguish youngster; a brat.

c. 1530.  Calisto & Melib., B i. Come hydyr, thou lytyll fole let me see the:… What lytyll vrchyn hast forgotyn me?

1599.  Breton, Miseries Mauillia, Wks. (Grosart), II. 37/1. Come on, you urchen, you will never come to good.

1726.  Swift, Gulliver, II. iii. 125. I could not tell to what extremity such a malicious urchin might have carried his resentment.

1828.  Carr, Craven Gloss., s.v., Thou lile urchin thou!

  b.  poet. Applied to Cupid.

1799.  Prior, Venus Mistaken, ii. Who’s blind now Mamma? the Urchin cry’d.

1713.  Swift, Cadenus & Vanessa, 515. The urchin … Took aim, and shot with all his strength A dart.

1799.  Southey, Love Elegies, III. v. From you, sweet locks! he wove the subtile line Wherewith the urchin angled for my Heart.

1805.  Andrew Scott, Poems, 184. Cupid, blind urchin.

  5.  A little fellow; a boy or youngster; † a child or infant.

  In frequent use from c. 1780. Often applied with commiserative force to children poorly, raggedly, or untidily clothed.

1556.  J. Heywood, Spider & Fly, C ij. Will ye have this urchin, of eyght weekes olde? It is a babling brat above all other.

1600.  Nashe, Summer’s Last Will, E ij. Learne of him, you deminitiue vrchins, howe to behaue your selues in your vocation.

1648.  J. Beaumont, Psyche, IX. cxlv. As for thy Lord, He term’d him Josephs Brat, The silly Carpenter’s poor Urcheon.

1683.  Kennett, Erasm. on Folly, 82. Looking upon the trembling Urchins.

1790.  Cowper, Lett. to Mrs. Throckmorton, 10 May. He sent an urchin (I do not mean a hedgehog,… but a boy, commonly so called).

1799.  Sheridan, Pizarro, II. i. The little darling urchin robs me, I doubt, of some portion of thy love, my Cora.

1812.  Byron, Ch. Har., II. xviii. And well the docile crew that skilful urchin guides.

1839.  Fr. A. Kemble, Resid. in Georgia (1863), 11. The tone of insolent superiority assuined by even the gutter urchins over their dusky companions.

1892.  Stevenson & L. Osbourne, Wrecker, iii. 42. [He] took a fancy to the urchin [and] carried him on with him in his wandering life.

  † b.  Applied to a literary production. Obs. rare.

1589.  [? Lyly], Pappe w. Hatchet, E ij. This is the Epistle which he woonders at himselfe, and like an olde Ape hugges the Vrchin so in his conceipt, as [etc.].

1813.  H. & J. Smith, Horace in London, 89. Then may new Drury’s widely yawning pit O’erwhelm thy urchin, and engulph thy muse.

  † c.  transf. An offspring of hell, etc. Obs. rare.

1584.  Harsnet, Serm. Ezek. (1658), 129. How can he but hate him?… the child of Darkness,… the Urchin of Hel?

1648.  J. Beaumont, Psyche, X. xxix. Unhappy Saturninus, how hast thou Prov’d thine own selfe an urcheon of Damnation!

  † 6.  An ugly or uncomely woman; a hag. rare.

1657.  Thornley, trans. Longus’ Daphnis & Chloe, 203. It is incredible that of such an old Churle, and such an Urchin as his Wife, there should come a child so fair.

  † b.  A girl or young woman, esp. of an ill-tempered or roguish disposition. Obs.

1534.  More, Comf. agst. Trib., II. Wks. 1182/2. What eyleth this gyrle? that eluish vrchin weneth I wer a diuell I irow.

1768.  Goldsm., Good-n. Man, II. i. You did indeed dissemble, you urchin you; but where’s the girl that won’t dissemble for a husband? Ibid. (a. 1777), Epilogue to ‘The Sisters,’ 23. The little urchin smiles, and spreads her lure, And tries to kill, ere she’s got power to cure.

  7.  techn. (See later quots.)

1835.  Ure, Philos. Manuf., 167. By this repeated transfer from one cylinder-card or urchin to another … the filaments become separated and expanded. Ibid. (1839), Dict. Arts, 348. Some cards consist entirely of cylinders, the central main cylinder being surrounded by a series of smaller ones called urchins or squirrels.

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., 2684/1. Urchin, one of a pair of rapidly revolving small card cylinders, arranged around the periphery of a large card drum.

  8.  attrib. and Comb., as (sense 1 c) † urchin blast, † show; (sense 7) urchin card, cylinder; urchin-like adj., -snouted ppl. a.; † urchin cockle (see quot.); † urchin crowfoot, the ranunculus, R. arvensis; urchin fish, (a) the sea urchin; (b) the porcupine-fish or sea-porcupine; urchin-form, the form or form-type of an echinus; † urchin lump-fish, † mushroom, † rind, † star-fish, † -worm (see quots.).

1634.  Milton, Comus, 845. Helping all *urchin blasts, and ill luck signes That the shrewd medling Elfe delights to make.

1851.  Gordon, Art Jrnl. Illustr. Catal., p. iv**/2. The large card-drum is generally surmounted by *urchin or squirrel cards instead of tops.

1688.  Holme, Armoury, II. 339/1. Concha Echinata,… Cockle covered or set with pricks. An *Urchin Cockle.

1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, 420. White Crowfoote, or *Urchin Crowfoote.

1835.  Ure, Philos. Manuf., 168. When the fibres have been thus thoroughly teazed out by … *urchin cylinders.

1566.  Drant, Horace, Sat., iv. G 8 b. Whence purple coloure flowes … from Micen *vrchen fishe.

1688.  Holme, Armoury, II. 343/2. The Globe Star fish … is by some Authors termed the *Urchin fish, or Sea Urchin.

1773.  Gentl. Mag., 220. The Urchin or Hedgehog Fish.

1863.  Wood, Illustr. Nat. Hist., III. 337. The Urchin-Fish or Sea Hedgehog is a good example of the genus Diodon, or Two-toothed fishes.

1878.  F. J. Bell, Gegenbaur’s Comp. Anat., 198. The decrease in size of the antambulacral surface … will give us the *Urchin-form.

1708.  Kersey, *Urchin-like Rind, the outward Husk of the Chesnut.

1855.  Gosse, Man. Marine Zool., I. 63. Round depressed urchin-like disks.

1688.  Holme, Armoury, II. 337. The *Urchin, or Hedghog Lump fish, hath its skin set with more sharper and longer pricks.

c. 1711.  Petiver, Gazophyl., X. xcii. *Urchin Mushroom:… From its roughness underneath.

1688.  R. Holme, Armoury, II. 85/1. The *urchin rind, is the cover of the Chestnut. [Cf. urchin-like.]

1610.  Shaks., Temp., II. ii. 5. But they [sc. spirits] ’ll nor pinch, Fright me with *Vrchyn-shewes, pitch me i’ th mire [etc.]. Ibid. (1592), Ven. & Ad., 1105. This foule, grim, and *vrchin-snowted Boare.

1688.  Holme, Armoury, II. 349/2. An *Urchin Star-fish; this is a Star-fish of five long and slender Rays.

1668.  Charleton, Onom., 53. Echini,… *Vrchin-Worms.

  b.  Appositive or as adj., as urchin article, bitch, deity, messenger, prince.

1534.  More, Comf. agst. Trib., III. xxiv. (1553), T vij. I feare me when I here once that vrchin bitche bark, I shal … forgeat altogether.

a. 1670.  Hacket, Abp. Williams, II. (1693), 91. Our Bishop … made himself merry with the Conceit, how easie it was to stride over such Urchin Articles. No man would find leisure to read the whole 36, they are so frivolous.

1818.  Hazlitt, Eng. Poets, ii. (1870), 53. The triumph of Cupid at the mischief he has made is worthy of the malicious urchin deity.

1826.  Scott, Woodst., xxxii. The urchin messenger entered the hall, making several odd bows.

1830.  Ld. Lyttelton, in Lady L.’s Corr. (1912), 259. The two urchin Princes … in little Hussar dresses.

  Hence Urchiness, a female urchin (= prec. 4); Urchinly a., of the nature of, resembling, an urchin.

1852.  Househ. Words, V. 378/2. Many were the names of urchins and *urchinesses … which decked the plaster walls of Broad-Bumble school.

1654.  New Brawle, 11. Like a feeble *Vrchinly Rascall as thou art.

1834.  Fraser’s Mag., IX. 741. Applying a foot to the part of his urchinly person corresponding with that particular department of Sir John Doyle.