1. The quality or state of being urbane; civility or courtesy of manners; politeness; refinement.
The marquis did the honors of his house with the urbanity of his country.
W. Irving. 2. Polite wit; facetiousness. [Obs.] Dryden.
Raillery in the sauce of civil entertainment; and without some such tincture of urbanity, good humor
falters.
L'Estrange. Syn. — Politeness; suavity; affability; courtesy.
Urbanize
(Ur"ban*ize) v. t. To render urban, or urbane; to refine; to polish. Howell.
Urbicolæ
(||Ur*bic"o*læ) n. pl. [NL., fr. L. urbs, urbis, a city + colere to inhabit.] (Zoöl.) An extensive
family of butterflies, including those known as skippers
Urbicolous
(Ur*bic"o*lous) a. Of or pertaining to a city; urban. [R.]
Urceolar
(Ur"ce*o*lar) a. Urceolate.
Urceolate
(Ur"ce*o*late) a. [L. urceolus, dim. of urceus a pitcher or waterpot.] (Nat. Hist.) Shaped
like a pitcher or urn; swelling below, and contracted at the orifice, as a calyx or corolla.
Urceole
(Ur"ce*ole) n. [See Urceolate.] (R. C. Ch.) A vessel for water for washing the hands; also,
one to hold wine or water.
Urceolus
(||Ur*ce"o*lus) n.; pl. Urceoli [L., a little pitcher.] (Bot.) Any urn-shaped organ of a plant.
Urchin
(Ur"chin) n. [OE. urchon, irchon, a hedgehog, OF. ireçon, eriçon, heriçon,
herichon, F. hérisson, a derivative fr. L. ericius, from er a hedgehog, for her; akin to Gr. chh`r. Cf.
Herisson.]
1. (Zoöl.) A hedgehog.
2. (Zoöl.) A sea urchin. See Sea urchin.
3. A mischievous elf supposed sometimes to take the form a hedgehog. "We 'll dress [them] like urchins,
ouphes, and fairies." Shak.
4. A pert or roguish child; — now commonly used only of a boy.
And the urchins that stand with their thievish eyes
Forever on watch ran off each with a prize.
W. Howitt.
You did indeed dissemble, you urchin you; but where's the girl that won't dissemble for an husband?
Goldsmith. 5. 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. Knight.
Urchin fish (Zoöl.), a diodon.
Urchin
(Ur"chin), a. Rough; pricking; piercing. [R.] "Helping all urchin blasts." Milton.
