Definition of "hedgehog"

hedgehog

/ˈhɛd͡ʒ.hɒɡ/

noun
plural hedgehogs
1. A small mammal, of the family Erinaceidae or subfamily Erinaceinae (spiny hedgehogs, the latter characterized by their spiny back and often by the habit of rolling up into a ball when attacked.)
  Quotations
  [L]ike Hedg-hogs vvhich / Lye tumbling in my bare-foote vvay, and mount / Their pricks at my foot-fall: ſometime am I / All vvound vvith Adders, vvho vvith clouen tongues / Doe hiſſe me into madneſſe: […]
  1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene ii], page 9, column 1
2. (US) Any of several spiny mammals, such as the porcupine, that are similar to the hedgehog.
3. (military) Ellipsis of Czech hedgehog: an antitank obstacle constructed from three steel rails.
  Quotations
  Ukrainian civilians have been DIY-ing hedgehogs, welding two bars or beams at an angle to make a cross and then adding a third to ensure it holds its shape even if it's knocked over.
  2022 March 21, Bill Chappell, “SWIFT, hedgehog, MiG: Here's a guide to the terms of war in Ukraine”, in SPECIAL SERIES: Ukraine invasion — explained‎, NPR, retrieved 2022-03-21
4. (informal, military, historical) A spigot mortar-type of depth charge weapon from World War II that simultaneously fires a number of explosives into the water to create a pattern of underwater explosions intended to attack submerged submarines.
5. (Australia) A type of chocolate cake (or slice), somewhat similar to an American brownie.
  Quotations
  There are hedgehogs with sultanas as well as breadcrumbs, carrot cakes and fruitcakes and banana walnut loaves.
  2005, Paul Mitchell, The Favourite, Frank Moorhouse, The Best Australian Stories 2005, page 145
  I am so flustered that I order a vanilla slice instead of hedgehog.
  2008, Lili Wilkinson, The Not Quite Perfect Boyfriend, unnumbered page
  His wife had made a hedgehog cake and he offered some but Murphy refused – his mouth was so dry with terror he couldn′t swallow.
  2009, Adam Shand, The Skull: Informers, Hit Men and Australia's Toughest Cop, page 199
6. A form of dredging machine.
  Quotations
  The first machines merely loosened, but did not raise the stuff, a scouring being afterwards effected by means of sluices. These machines consisted of large bars or prongs placed vertically in a frame, and being fastened to a barge placed in the line of the sluices, the whole was inpelled forward by the current, thereby scouring the bed. Such a machine, called a hedgehog, is still used in Lincolnshire.
  1868, “Dredging”, in Charles Tomlinson, editor, Cyclopædia of Useful Arts, Mechanical and Chemical, Manufactures, Mining, and Engineering, volume 1, page 520
7. Certain flowering plants with parts resembling a member of family Erinaceidae
  1. Medicago intertexta, the pods of which are armed with short spines.
  2. Retzia capensis of South Africa.
8. The edible fungus Hydnum repandum.
  Quotations
  Hedgehogs fruit from autumn until late spring. Many consumers are still unfamiliar with hedgehogs, and they have a relatively small commercial trade.
  1998, Randy Molina, David Pilz, Managing Forest Ecosystems to Conserve Fungus Diversity and Sustain Wild Mushroom Harvests
9. A kind of electrical transformer with open magnetic circuit, the ends of the iron wire core being turned outward and presenting a bristling appearance.
10. A way of serving food at a party, consisting of a half melon or potato etc. with individual cocktail sticks of cheese and pineapple stuck into it.
11. (differential geometry) A type of plane curve; see Hedgehog (geometry).
verb
third-person singular simple present hedgehogs, present participle hedgehogging, simple past and past participle hedgehogged
1. (military) To make use of a hedgehog barricade as a defensive maneuver.
  Quotations
  Hedgehogging means — let us call a spade a spade — that we're were encircled: It's something that has been forced upon us, a predicament from which we ought to try to escape as fast as possible.
  1966, Theodor Plievier, Stalingrad, page 43
  Luettwitz hedgehogged his regiment and held his positions until the rest of the division arrived two days later.
  2012, Samuel W. Mitcham Jr., Gene Mueller, Hitler's Commanders
  During the night of May 27 the 90th Light Division hedgehogged south of El Adem.
  2007, Samuel W. Mitcham Jr., Rommel's Desert War: The Life and Death of the Afrika Korps
2. To array with spiky projections like the quills of a hedgehog.
  Quotations
  All around were styrofoam cups hedgehogged with butts, and the threebar electric heater was encrusted with bits of charcoaled tobacco and frazzled stands of hair where people had stooped down to spark up.
  2008, Antonia Quirke, Choking on Marlon Brando
  The walls were pockmarked with fragments of stone and hedgehogged with jagged daggers of glass, while in the street below there were sickening splodges on the pavement which a workman was covering with sawdust.
  2008, Max Hennessy, Back to Battle, page 300
  I think they're from different faculties,” I reply, taking a step back to peruse the table filled with assorted snacks, my hand hovering over the hedgehogged tray of cheese and pineapple cocktail sticks.
  2014, George Ryder, Last Action Zero, page 39
3. (transitive, intransitive) To curl up into a defensive ball.
  Quotations
  You try for his head, but he's hedgehogged round now, elbows beside his ears and you can't get him.
  2008, A.L. Kennedy, Day, page 229
  I stayed hedgehogged in my ball, listening for movement and trying to ignore the cramp in my legs, the ache in my gut and — encore — the throbbing in my temples.
  2011, Edwin Thomas, The Blighted Cliffs, page 13
  The dead man was lying on a pile of the blankets, curled up, his hands interlocked behind his head, knees drawn up to his chest. Hedgehogged, just like the others.
  2014, Robert Ryan, The Dead Can Wait, page 287