urchin/ˈɜːtʃɪn/EtymologyFrom Middle English yrchoun, irchoun (“hedgehog; sea urchin”), from Old Northern French irechon, from Vulgar Latin *ērīciōnem, from Latin ērīcius. Compare modern French hérisson, whence the English doublet herisson.nounA hedgehog.A mischievous elf supposed sometimes to take the form of a hedgehog.“We'll dress [them] like urchins, ouphes, and fairies.”A mischievous child.“And like these fresh green things were the dozens of babies, tots, toddlers, noisy urchins, laughing girls, a whole multitude of children of one family. For Collier Brandt, the father of all this numerous progeny, was a Mormon with four wives.”A street urchin, a child who lives, or spends most of their time, in the streets.“And the urchins that stand with their thievish eyes / Forever on watch ran off each with a prize.”A sea urchin.One of a pair in a series of small card cylinders arranged around a carding drum; so called from its fancied resemblance to the hedgehog.“Here we have a carding-engine, with the drum surmounted with urchin or squirrel cards[…]”