cawquaw

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English

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Etymology

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From Cree kâkwa / ᑳᑲᐧ (kaakay, porcupine).

Noun

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cawquaw (plural not attested)

  1. (rare, possibly dated) A Canadian porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum).
    • 1872, Samuel Orchart Beeton, Beeton's Brave tales, bold ballads, and travels and perils, page 540:
      The Cawquaw or Urson of North America also inhabits trees. It has not, however, a prehensile tail, that member being merely used as a weapon of offence, the short, sharp quills witb which it is armed sticking in the wounds []