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Nocturnal vs Hedgehog - What's the difference?

nocturnal | hedgehog |

As an adjective nocturnal

is primarily active during the night.

As a noun hedgehog is

a small mammal, of the subfamily erinaceinae, characterized by its spiny back and by its habit of rolling itself into a ball when attacked.

nocturnal

English

Adjective

(-)
  • Primarily active during the night.
  • (of an occurrence) Taking place at night.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-01-01
  • , author=Paul Bartel, Ashli Moore , title=Avian Migration: The Ultimate Red-Eye Flight , volume=101, issue=1, page=47–48 , magazine= citation , passage=Many of these classic methods are still used, with some modern improvements. For example, with the aid of special microphones and automated sound detection software, ornithologists recently reported […] that pine siskins (Spinus pinus ) undergo an irregular, nomadic type of nocturnal migration.}}

    Antonyms

    * diurnal

    Coordinate terms

    * crepuscular

    hedgehog

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A small mammal, of the subfamily Erinaceinae, characterized by its spiny back and by its habit of rolling itself into a ball when attacked.
  • A type of moveable military barricade made from crossed logs or steel bars, laced with barbed wire, used to damage or impede tanks and vehicles; Czech hedgehog.
  • The nickname for 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.
  • (Australia) A type of chocolate cake (or slice), somewhat similar to an American brownie.
  • * 2005 , Paul Mitchell, The Favourite'', Frank Moorhouse, ''The Best Australian Stories 2005 , page 145,
  • There are hedgehogs with sultanas as well as breadcrumbs, carrot cakes and fruitcakes and banana walnut loaves.
  • * 2008 , Lili Wilkinson, The Not Quite Perfect Boyfriend , unnumbered page,
  • I am so flustered that I order a vanilla slice instead of hedgehog .
  • * 2009 , , The Skull: Informers, Hit Men and Australia's Toughest Cop , page 199,
  • 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.
  • A form of dredging machine.
  • (Knight)
  • * 1868 , "Dredging," article in Charles Tomlinson (editor), Cyclopædia of Useful Arts, Mechanical and Chemical, Manufactures, Mining, and Engineering , Volume 1, page 520,
  • 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.
  • The flowering plant , the pods of which are armed with short spines.
  • (Loudon)

    Synonyms

    * (mammal with spines) urchin (archaic), furze-pig (West Country), hedgepig (UK), Erinaceus europaeus * (Medicago intertexta)

    Coordinate terms

    * (mammal with spines) gymnure

    Derived terms

    * Czech hedgehog * hedgehog signalling pathway * sonic hedgehog

    See also

    * echidna * porcupine * erinaceous