Urchin

Pronunciation

• US IPA: /ˈɚ.tʃɪn/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)tʃɪn

Origin

Ultimately from Latin ericius ("hedgehog").

Full definition of urchin

Noun

1. A mischievous child.
• Grey Riders|7And like these fresh green things were the dozens of babies, tots, toddlers, noisy urchins, laughing girls, a whole multitude of children of one family. For Collier Brandt, the father of all this numerous progeny, was a Mormon with four wives.
2. A street kid, a child from a poor neighborhood.
• W. HowittAnd the urchins that stand with their thievish eyes
  Forever on watch ran off each with a prize.
3. (archaic) A hedgehog.
• before 1400, The Romaunt of the Rose, translated from French, partially by... Like sharp urchouns his here was growe,
  His eyes rede as the fire-glow; ...
4. A sea urchin.
5. A mischievous elf supposed sometimes to take the form a hedgehog.
• ShakespeareWe'll dress them like urchins, ouphes, and fairies.
6. 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.

Related terms

• sea urchin
• street urchin