porpentine

English

Alternative forms

• porpintine

Etymology

Alteration of porcupine.

Noun

porpentine (plural porpentines)

1. (archaic) Porcupine.
   • 1594, Christopher Marlowe, Edward II, London: William Jones,^[1]

     […] these wordes of his moue me as much,

     As if a Goose should play the Porpintine,

     And dart her plumes, thinking to pierce my brest,

   • c. 1600, W. Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 1, Scene V:

     “GHOST: I could a tale unfold whose lightest word / Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, / Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, / Thy knotted and combined locks to part / And each particular hair to stand on end, / Like quills upon the fretful porpentine

   • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter XI:

     Odd that he [Hamlet's ghost] should have said porpentine when he meant porcupine. Slip of the tongue, no doubt, as so often happens with ghosts.

Anagrams

• prepontine