Porcupine

porcupine

any of various large hystricomorph rodents of the families Hystricidae, of Africa, Indonesia, S Europe, and S Asia, and Erethizontidae, of the New World. All species have a body covering of protective spines or quills

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

porcupine

[′pȯr·kyə‚pīn]

(vertebrate zoology)

Any of about 26 species of rodents in two families (Hystricidae and Erethizontidae) which have spines or quills in addition to regular hair.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Porcupine

(dreams)

Old dream interpretation books say the porcupine in your dreams is an omen of good news and bad news. Good things may happen to you, but they will carry difficulties with them. From a more pragmatic point of view, porcupines are cute but untouchable animals. As a dream symbol it may represent a situation or a person in your life who fits that description.

Bedside Dream Dictionary by Silvana Amar Copyright © 2007 by Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Porcupine

 

a mining center in central Canada, in the province of Ontario. Porcupine is situated at Porcupine Lake, near a gold ore deposit, discovered in 1909. The deposit is associated with high-temperature hydrothermal deposits of gold-arsenopy-rite and is located between Precambrian granitic massifs and metamorphic rocks. Approximately one-half of the gold mined in Canada is obtained at Porcupine. Silver-copper-zinc ores are also mined in the region—at Kidd Creek and elsewhere.

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Porcupine

 

a river in Canada and Alaska, a right tributary of the Yukon. The Porcupine measures 953 km long and drains an area of 78,000 sq. km. Originating in the Nahanni mountains of the Mackenzie Mountains it is fed primarily by snow. There is high water in June and July. The Porcupine is frozen from October through April or May. The lower course is navigable by small vessels.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.