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Glite Dictionary
porcupine ball

porcupine ball

8.8
A small ball of meat rolled in rice and cooked in tomato sauce
  • noun
  • /ˈpɔrkjəˌpaɪn bɔl/
  • Archaic
translation icon : bolas de puercoespín
  • The rice in the porcupine balls sticks out, making them look like little spiky creatures.

Examples

  • My grandmother used to make porcupine balls for Sunday dinner every week.

  • You can freeze leftover porcupine balls and reheat them for a quick meal.

  • I made a delicious porcupine ball for dinner.

  • Have you ever tried a porcupine ball?

  • My grandmother used to make porcupine balls for Sunday dinner every week.

  • The rice in the porcupine balls sticks out, making them look like little spiky creatures.

  • You can freeze leftover porcupine balls and reheat them for a quick meal.

Synonyms

meatball
vsporcupine ball
103 1.0

A small ball of ground meat that is mixed with other ingredients and cooked

is the specific dish of meat patties with rice simmered in tomato sauce
porcupines
vsporcupine ball
  • US
9.9

Meatballs made with beef and rice cooked in tomato sauce

focuses on patties rolled in rice rather than rice mixed inside

Surface Forms

porcupine ball singular
porcupine balls plural

Morphology

porcupine + ball

Knowing 'porcupine' (an animal with quills) and 'ball' (a spherical lump) might lead a B1 learner to infer a spherical item with a spiky or studded appearance, so there is a partial, image-based link. However, the precise culinary meaning (meat patties rolled in rice and simmered in tomato sauce) is not derivable from the constituents and requires cultural/lexical knowledge, so the item is only partially transparent.

Etymology

Porcupine ball gets its name from the dish's look: rice sticks out of the meat like a porcupine's quills and the patty is a small round ball. So the name now means 'a meat patty rolled in rice and cooked in sauce'.