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ECHIDNA

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e⋅chid⋅na

[i-kid-nuh]
–noun
Also called spiny anteater. any of several insectivorous monotremes of the genera Tachyglossus, of Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea, and Zaglossus, of New Guinea, that have claws and a slender snout and are covered with coarse hair and long spines.

Origin:
< NL (1798), orig. a genus name; L: serpent, Echidna a mythical creature which gave birth to the Hydra and other monsters < Gk échidna, akin to échis viper
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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e·chid·na   (ĭ-kĭd'nə)   
n.  Either of two nocturnal, burrowing, egg-laying mammals of the genera Tachyglossus and Zaglossus of Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea, having a spiny coat, slender snout, and an extensible sticky tongue used for catching insects. Also called spiny anteater.

[Latin, adder, viper, from Greek ekhidna, from ekhis.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

echidna 
Australian egg-laying hedgehog-like mammal, 1847, usually explained as from Gk. ekhidna "snake, viper," from ekhis "snake," from PIE *angwhi- "snake, eel." But this sense is difficult to reconcile (unless it is a reference to the ant-eating tongue), and it seems more properly to belong to L. echinus, Gk. ekhinos "hedgehog" (in Gk. also "sea-urchin"), which Watkins explains as "snake-eater," from ekhis "snake."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Computing Dictionary

Echidna
Constraint logic programming embedded in an object-oriented language. The syntax is an extension of Edinburgh Prolog.
["Hierarchical Arc Consistency Applied to Numeric Processing in Constraint Logic Programming", G. Sidebottom et al, TR-91-06, CSS-IS, Simon Fraser U, and Comp Intell 8(4) (1992)].
(ftp://cs.sfu.edu/pub/ecl/papers).
E-mail: .
(1994-12-08)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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Encyclopedia

Echidna

monster of Greek mythology, half woman, half serpent. Her parents were either the sea deities Phorcys and Ceto (according to Hesiod's Theogony) or Tartarus and Gaia (in the account of the mythographer Apollodorus); in Hesiod, Tartarus and Gaia are the parents of Echidna's husband, Typhon. Among Echidna's progeny by the 100-headed Typhon, were Ladon (the dragon who protected the Golden Apples of the Hesperides), another dragon who protected the Golden Fleece, the Hydra, the goatlike Chimera, and the infernal hounds Orthus and Cerberus. The Sphinx and the Nemean lion, both sired by Orthus, were also among her offspring.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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