Emily Dickinson Lexicon
Definition for ECH-I'NUS
ECH-I'NUS, n. [L. from Gr. εχινος.]
- A hedgehog.
- A shellfish set with prickles or spines. The Echinus, in natural history, forms a genus of Mollusca. The body is roundish, covered with a bony crust, and often beset with movable prickles. There are several species, and some of them eatable. Encyc.
- With botanists, a prickly head or top of a plant; an echinated pericarp.
- In architecture, a member or ornament near the bottom of Ionic, Corinthian or Composite capitals, so named from its roughness, resembling in some measure, the spiny coat of a hedgehog. Johnson. Encyc.
Return to page 7 of the letter “E”.