horn
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: hôn
ipa: /hɔːn/
enpr: hôrn
ipa: /hɔɹn/
note: Dublin, without the horse–hoarse merger
ipa: /ˈhɒːɹn/
note: Dublin
ipa: /ˈhoːrn/
note: Dublin
ipa: /ˈhoːɻn/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)n
Forms: form: horns
Etymology: From Middle English horn, horne, from Old English horn, from Proto-West Germanic *horn, from Proto-Germanic *hurną. Compare West Frisian hoarn, Dutch hoorn, Low German Hoorn, horn, German Horn, Danish and Swedish horn, Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽 (haurn).
Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂-nó-m, from *ḱerh₂- (“head, horn”). Compare Breton kern (“horn”), Latin cornū, Ancient Greek κέρας (kéras), Proto-Slavic *sьrna, Old Church Slavonic сьрна (sĭrna, “roedeer”), Hittite [script needed] (surna, “horn”), Persian سر (sar), Sanskrit शृङ्ग (śṛṅga, “horn”). Doublet of corn (“callus”), corno, and cornu.
(telephone): From the horn-shaped earpieces of old communication systems that used air tubes.
Senses: topics: biology
natural-sciences
zoology
zootomy
glosses: A hard growth of keratin that protrudes from the top of the head of certain animals, usually paired.
glosses: Any similar real or imaginary growth or projection such as the elongated tusk of a narwhal, the eyestalk of a snail, the pointed growth on the nose of a rhinoceros, or the hornlike projection on the head of a demon or similar.
glosses: An antler.
examples: text: an umbrella with a handle made of horn
synonyms: keratin
glosses: The hard substance from which animals' horns are made, sometimes used by man as a material for making various objects.
examples: text: horns of mead and ale
ref: 1775, William Mason, The Poems of Mr. Gray. To which are prefixed Memoirs of his Life and Writings by W. Mason.:
text: I guarantee you a mighty feast, horns of ale, and afterwards wrestling and racing and contests of strength.
ref: 2017, Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 143:
glosses: A vessel made from a horn, to contain drink, ink, gunpowder, etc.
examples: text: [W]hile riſing ſlow, / Blank, in the leaden-colour'd eaſt, the moon / Wears a wan circle round her blunted horns.
ref: a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Winter”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC, page 169, lines 123–125:
glosses: An object whose shape resembles a horn, such as cornucopia or the point of an anvil.
One of the two corners of a crescent, particularly of the crescent moon
glosses: An object whose shape resembles a horn, such as cornucopia or the point of an anvil.
The high pommel of a saddle; also, either of the projections on a lady's saddle for supporting the leg.
topics: architecture
glosses: An object whose shape resembles a horn, such as cornucopia or the point of an anvil.
The Ionic volute.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: An object whose shape resembles a horn, such as cornucopia or the point of an anvil.
The outer end of a crosstree; also, one of the projections forming the jaws of a gaff, boom, etc.
topics: business
carpentry
construction
manufacturing
glosses: An object whose shape resembles a horn, such as cornucopia or the point of an anvil.
A curved projection on the fore part of a plane.
examples: text: Joab […] caught hold on the horns of the altar
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Kings 2:28:
glosses: An object whose shape resembles a horn, such as cornucopia or the point of an anvil.
One of the projections at the four corners of the Jewish altar of burnt offering.
glosses: Any of several musical wind instruments.
examples: text: hunting horn
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: An instrument resembling a musical horn and used to signal others.
topics: automotive
transport
vehicles
synonyms: hooter
klaxon
glosses: A loud alarm, especially one on a motor vehicle.
examples: text: The shot was after the horn and therefore did not count.
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A sound signaling the expiration of time.
examples: text: antenna horn
text: loudspeaker horn
synonyms: funnel
glosses: A conical device used to direct waves.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: Generally, any brass wind instrument.
examples: text: Get him on the horn so that we can have a discussion about this.
synonyms: word: blower
alt: UK
word: dog and bone
alt: Cockney rhyming slang
word: phone
glosses: A telephone.
synonyms: word: boner
alt: US
word: hard-on
word: stiffy
glosses: An erection of the penis.
examples: text: to navigate around the horn
text: But nowhere are there queerer waters than in our own parish of Caulds, at the place called the Sker Bay, where between two horns of land a shallow estuary receives the stream of the Sker.
ref: 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:
topics: geography
natural-sciences
synonyms: peninsula
glosses: A peninsula or projecting tract of land.
glosses: A diacritical mark that may be attached to the top right corner of the letters o and u when writing in Vietnamese, thus forming ơ and ư.
topics: biology
botany
natural-sciences
glosses: An incurved, tapering and pointed appendage found in the flowers of the milkweed (Asclepias).
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: In naval mine warfare, a projection from the mine shell of some contact mines which, when broken or bent by contact, causes the mine to fire.