ECHIDNA • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Echidna

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/ɪkˈɪdnə/ Listen

Echidna

noun

(pl. echidnae, echidnas)

A burrowing monotreme mammal covered with spines and having a long snout and claws for hunting ants and termites; native to New Guinea. Synonyms: anteater, spiny anteater.

A burrowing monotreme mammal covered with spines and having a long snout and claws for hunting ants and termites; native to Australia. Synonyms: anteater, spiny anteater.

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Etymology of 'Echidna'

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"Echidna" Quotes from Famous Books

... snake, reptile, ophidian; basilisk, cockatrice, amphisbaena. Associated Words: ophiology, ophiolatry, ophiophagous, ophiography, herpetology, ophidian, ophiologic, ophiomorphous, herpetologist, herpetotomy, herpetotomist, ophiologist, ophiomancy, echidna, echidnine, fang, uraeus, serpentry, ...

— Putnam's Word Book • Louis A. Flemming

... in a hollow cave she bare another monster, irresistible, in no wise like either to mortal men or to the undying gods, even the goddess fierce Echidna who is half a nymph with glancing eyes and fair cheeks, and half again a huge snake, great and awful, with speckled skin, eating raw flesh beneath the secret parts of the holy earth. And there she has a ...

— Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns, and Homerica • Homer and Hesiod

Words linked to "Echidna" : Tachyglossus, monotreme, egg-laying mammal, genus Tachyglossus, genus Zaglossus, anteater, Zaglossus