different between rabbit vs porcupine

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) enPR: r?b'it, IPA^(key): /??æb?t/
• Rhymes: -æb?t
• (General Australian, weak vowel merger) enPR: r?b'?t, IPA^(key): /??æb?t/
• Homophone: rabbet

Etymology 1

From Middle English rabet, rabette, from Middle French *robotte, *rabotte or Anglo-Latin rabettus, from dialectal Old French rabotte, probably a diminutive of Middle Dutch or West Flemish robbe, perhaps related to robbe (“seal”), itself of uncertain origin; possibly some imitative verb, maybe robben, rubben (“to rub”) is used here to allude to a characteristic of the animal. See rub.

Related forms include Middle French rabouillet (“baby rabbit”) and in French rabot (“plane”)), coming via Walloon Old French (reflected nowadays as Walloon robète (“rabbit”)), from Middle Dutch robbe (“rabbit; seal”); also Middle Low German robbe, rubbe (“rabbit”), and the later Low German Rubbe (“seal”), West Frisian robbe (“seal”), Saterland Frisian robbe (“seal”), North Frisian rob (“seal”), borrowed into German Robbe (“seal”).

Noun

rabbit (countable and uncountable, plural rabbits)

1. A mammal of the family Leporidae, with long ears, long hind legs and a short, fluffy tail.
2. (uncountable) The meat from this animal.
3. (uncountable) The fur of a rabbit typically used to imitate another animal's fur.
4. A runner in a distance race whose goal is mainly to set the pace, either to tire a specific rival so that a teammate can win or to help another break a record; a pacesetter.
5. (cricket) A very poor batsman; selected as a bowler or wicket-keeper.
6. (computing theory) A large element at the beginning of a list of items to be bubble sorted, and thus tending to be quickly swapped into its correct position. Compare turtle.
7. Rarebit; Welsh rabbit or a similar dish: melted cheese served atop toast.
   • 2018, Helen Saberi, Teatimes: A World Tour, Reaktion Books (?ISBN)

     The cheese mixture may be served with toast on the side or poured on top of toast and grilled until golden brown and bubbling. Other variations include Buck rabbit, a Welsh rabbit with a poached egg on top, and Yorkshire rabbit with bacon  ...

   • 1858, Mrs. N. K. M. Lee, The American Family Cook Book, page 47:

     CHEESE TOASTED, OR RABBIT.

   • 2019, Mark Kurlansky, Milk: A 10,000-Year History, Bloomsbury Publishing (?ISBN)

     Hannah Glasse offered recipes for Scotch, Welsh, and English rabbit. This is her Scotch rabbit: Toast a piece of bread very nicely […] Cut a slice of cheese, […]

8. A pneumatically-controlled tool used to insert small samples of material inside the core of a nuclear reactor.
   • 2012, Joseph Cerny, Nuclear Spectroscopy and Reactions 40-A (part 1, page 249)

     This rabbit is constructed such that only that fraction of the beam that passes through the 15g-in. diameter target container reaches the Faraday cup behind the rabbit.

Synonyms

(animal):

• bunny (hypocoristic, colloquial, pet name)
• bunny rabbit (hypocoristic, colloquial, pet name)
• coney, cony (dialect)

Hyponyms

• bunny rabbit
• jackrabbit

Derived terms

• rabbiter
• rabbity

Related terms

Translations

Verb

rabbit (third-person singular simple present rabbits, present participle rabbitting or rabbiting, simple past and past participle rabbitted or rabbited)

1. (intransitive) To hunt rabbits.
2. (US, intransitive) To flee.

   The informant seemed skittish, as if he was about to rabbit.

Synonyms

• (to flee): run off, scamper, bolt

Translations

See also

Etymology 2

From Cockney rhyming slang rabbit and pork, to talk.

Verb

rabbit (third-person singular simple present rabbits, present participle rabbiting, simple past and past participle rabbited)

1. (Britain, intransitive) To talk incessantly and in a childish manner; to babble annoyingly.

   Synonym: rabbit on

   Stop your infernal rabbiting! Use proper words or nobody will listen to you!

Synonyms

• (to talk incessantly and childishly): babble, blather, prattle; see also Thesaurus:prattle

Translations

See also

• chew the fat
• chew the cud (British)
• shoot the breeze (US)

Etymology 3

Perhaps a corruption of rabate.

Verb

rabbit

1. Confound; damn; drat.

Finnish

Noun

rabbit

1. Nominative plural form of rabbi.

Anagrams

• barbit

Hungarian

Etymology

rabbi +? -t

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?r?b?it]
• Hyphenation: rab?bit

Noun

rabbit

1. accusative singular of rabbi

English

Alternative forms

• porpentine, porpintine (archaic alterations of porcupine)

Etymology

From Middle English porke despyne, from Old French porc-espin, from Latin porcus (“pig”) + spinus (“spine”), hence also spine pig. Cognate with Spanish puercoespín, Italian porcospino.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p??(?)kj??pa?n/

Noun

porcupine (plural porcupines)

1. Any of several rodents of either of the taxonomic families Hystricidae (Old World porcupines) or Erethizontidae (New World porcupines), both from the infraorder Hystricognathi, noted for their sharp spines or quills, which are raised when the animal is attacked or surprised.
   • 1981, Adolph Murie, The Grizzlies of Mount McKinley, page 218,

     I have no evidence of grizzlies killing porcupines or vice versa. However, occasionally there is contact and sometimes a grizzly is injured or a porcupine killed, but the latter is rare.

   • 2010, Richard Potts, Early Hominid Activities at Olduvai, page 81,

     In particular, porcupines, hyenas, and leopards are known in Africa to transport bones to particular places.

   • 2011, John P. Rafferty, Rats, Bats, and Xenarthrans, page 113,

     Old World porcupines (Hystricidae) have quills embedded in clusters, whereas in New World porcupines (Erethizontidae) single quills are interspersed with bristles, underfur, and hair. No porcupine can throw its quills, but they detach easily and will remain embedded in an attacker.

Synonyms

• (any species of Hystricidae or Erethizontidae): spine pig, porky

Hyponyms

• (any species of Erethizontidae): porcupette (baby porcupine)

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• echidna
• hedgehog
• spiny anteater
• urchin
• urson (Erethizon dorsatum)