Horn

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Horn \Horn\ (h[^o]rn), n. [AS. horn; akin to D. horen, hoorn,
     G., Icel., Sw., & Dan. horn, Goth. ha['u]rn, W., Gael., & Ir.
     corn, L. cornu, Gr. ke`ras, and perh. also to E. cheer,
     cranium, cerebral; cf. Skr. [,c]iras head. Cf. {Carat},
     {Corn} on the foot, {Cornea}, {Corner}, {Cornet},
     {Cornucopia}, {Hart}.]


     1. A hard, projecting, and usually pointed organ, growing
        upon the heads of certain animals, esp. of the ruminants,
        as cattle, goats, and the like. The hollow horns of the Ox
        family consist externally of true horn, and are never
        shed.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. The antler of a deer, which is of bone throughout, and
        annually shed and renewed.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Zool.) Any natural projection or excrescence from an
        animal, resembling or thought to resemble a horn in
        substance or form; esp.:
        (a) A projection from the beak of a bird, as in the
            hornbill.
        (b) A tuft of feathers on the head of a bird, as in the
            horned owl.
        (c) A hornlike projection from the head or thorax of an
            insect, or the head of a reptile, or fish.
        (d) A sharp spine in front of the fins of a fish, as in
            the horned pout.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     4. (Bot.) An incurved, tapering and pointed appendage found
        in the flowers of the milkweed ({Asclepias}).
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. Something made of a horn, or in resemblance of a horn; as:
        (a) A wind instrument of music; originally, one made of a
            horn (of an ox or a ram); now applied to various
            elaborately wrought instruments of brass or other
            metal, resembling a horn in shape. "Wind his horn
            under the castle wall." --Spenser. See {French horn},
            under {French}.
        (b) A drinking cup, or beaker, as having been originally
            made of the horns of cattle. "Horns of mead and ale."
            --Mason.
        (c) The cornucopia, or horn of plenty. See {Cornucopia}.
            "Fruits and flowers from Amalth[ae]a's horn."
            --Milton.
        (d) A vessel made of a horn; esp., one designed for
            containing powder; anciently, a small vessel for
            carrying liquids. "Samuel took the hornof oil and
            anointed him [David]." --1 Sam. xvi. 13.
        (e) The pointed beak of an anvil.
        (f) The high pommel of a saddle; also, either of the
            projections on a lady's saddle for supporting the leg.
        (g) (Arch.) The Ionic volute.
        (h) (Naut.) The outer end of a crosstree; also, one of the
            projections forming the jaws of a gaff, boom, etc.
        (i) (Carp.) A curved projection on the fore part of a
            plane.
        (j) One of the projections at the four corners of the
            Jewish altar of burnt offering. "Joab . . . caught
            hold on the horns of the altar." --1 Kings ii. 28.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     6. One of the curved ends of a crescent; esp., an extremity
        or cusp of the moon when crescent-shaped.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The moon
              Wears a wan circle round her blunted horns.
                                                    --Thomson.
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     7. (Mil.) The curving extremity of the wing of an army or of
        a squadron drawn up in a crescentlike form.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Sharpening in mooned horns
              Their phalanx.                        --Milton.
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     8. The tough, fibrous material of which true horns are
        composed, being, in the Ox family, chiefly albuminous,
        with some phosphate of lime; also, any similar substance,
        as that which forms the hoof crust of horses, sheep, and
        cattle; as, a spoon of horn.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     9. (Script.) A symbol of strength, power, glory, exaltation,
        or pride.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The Lord is . . . the horn of my salvation. --Ps.
                                                    xviii. 2.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     10. An emblem of a cuckold; -- used chiefly in the plural.
         "Thicker than a cuckold's horn." --Shak.
         [1913 Webster]
  
     11. the {telephone}; as, on the horn. [slang]
         [PJC]
  
     12. a body of water shaped like a horn; as, the Golden Horn
         in Istanbul.
         [PJC]
  
     {Horn block}, the frame or pedestal in which a railway car
        axle box slides up and down; -- also called {horn plate}.
        
  
     {Horn of a dilemma}. See under {Dilemma}.
  
     {Horn distemper}, a disease of cattle, affecting the internal
        substance of the horn.
  
     {Horn drum}, a wheel with long curved scoops, for raising
        water.
  
     {Horn lead} (Chem.), chloride of lead.
  
     {Horn maker}, a maker of cuckolds. [Obs.] --Shak.
  
     {Horn mercury}. (Min.) Same as {Horn quicksilver} (below).
  
     {Horn poppy} (Bot.), a plant allied to the poppy ({Glaucium
        luteum}), found on the sandy shores of Great Britain and
        Virginia; -- called also {horned poppy}. --Gray.
  
     {Horn pox} (Med.), abortive smallpox with an eruption like
        that of chicken pox.
  
     {Horn quicksilver} (Min.), native calomel, or bichloride of
        mercury.
  
     {Horn shell} (Zool.), any long, sharp, spiral, gastropod
        shell, of the genus {Cerithium}, and allied genera.
  
     {Horn silver} (Min.), cerargyrite.
  
     {Horn slate}, a gray, siliceous stone.
  
     {To pull in one's horns}, {To haul in one's horns}, to
        withdraw some arrogant pretension; to cease a demand or
        withdraw an assertion. [Colloq.]
  
     {To raise the horn}, or {To lift the horn} (Script.), to
        exalt one's self; to act arrogantly. "'Gainst them that
        raised thee dost thou lift thy horn?" --Milton.
  
     {To take a horn}, to take a drink of intoxicating liquor.
        [Low]
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Horn \Horn\, v. t.
     1. To furnish with horns; to give the shape of a horn to.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To cause to wear horns; to cuckold. [Obs.] --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  horn
       n 1: a noisemaker (as at parties or games) that makes a loud
            noise when you blow through it
       2: one of the bony outgrowths on the heads of certain ungulates
       3: a noise made by the driver of an automobile to give warning;
       4: a high pommel of a Western saddle (usually metal covered
          with leather) [syn: {saddle horn}]
       5: a brass musical instrument with a brilliant tone; has a
          narrow tube and a flared bell and is played by means of
          valves [syn: {cornet}, {trumpet}, {trump}]
       6: any outgrowth from the head of an organism that resembles a
          horn
       7: the material (mostly keratin) that covers the horns of
          ungulates and forms hooves and claws and nails
       8: an alarm device that makes a loud warning sound
       9: a brass musical instrument consisting of a conical tube that
          is coiled into a spiral and played by means of valves
          [syn: {French horn}]
       10: a device on an automobile for making a warning noise [syn: {automobile
           horn}, {car horn}, {motor horn}, {hooter}]
       v : stab or pierce with a horn or tusk; "the rhino horned the
           explorer" [syn: {tusk}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  161 Moby Thesaurus words for "horn":
     Klaxon, Mayday, SOS, acoustical network, aerophone, air-raid alarm,
     alarm, alarm bell, alarm clock, alarm signal, alarum, alert,
     all clear, alpenhorn, alphorn, althorn, alto horn, ballad horn,
     baritone, bass horn, beacon, bell, bellyband, blinking light,
     boiler factory, boiler room, brass choir, brass wind,
     brass-wind instrument, brasses, bugle, bugle horn, bull-roarer,
     burglar alarm, buzzer, capacitor speaker, catcall, cherry bomb,
     cinch, clack, clacker, clapper, clarion, coaxial speaker, cone,
     cornet, cornet-a-pistons, corno di caccia, cornopean, cracker,
     cricket, crossover network, crostarie, diaphragm, double reed,
     double-bell euphonium, dynamic speaker, earphone,
     electrodynamic speaker, electromagnetic speaker,
     electrostatic speaker, embouchure, euphonium,
     excited-field speaker, fiery cross, fire alarm, fire bell,
     fire flag, firecracker, five-minute gun, flashing light, fog bell,
     fog signal, foghorn, full-fidelity speaker, gale warning, girt,
     girth, gore, headphone, headset, helicon, high-fidelity speaker,
     high-frequency speaker, hooter, hue and cry, hunting horn,
     hurricane warning, jockey, key, key trumpet, lighthouse, lip,
     lituus, loudspeaker, low-frequency speaker, lur, mellophone,
     midrange speaker, monorange speaker, mouthpiece,
     moving-coil speaker, noisemaker, note of alarm, occulting light,
     ophicleide, orchestral horn, permanent magnet speaker, pipe,
     pocket trumpet, police whistle, pommel, post horn, rattle,
     rattlebox, reed, sackbut, saxhorn, saxtuba, serpent,
     signal of distress, siren, slide, slide trombone, sliphorn,
     small-craft warning, snapper, sousaphone, speaker, speaker system,
     speaker unit, steam whistle, still alarm, stirrup, storm cone,
     storm flag, storm warning, surcingle, tenor tuba, ticktack, tocsin,
     tooter, triaxial speaker, tromba, trombone, trumpet, tuba, tusk,
     tweeter, two-minute gun, upside-down flag, valve, valve trombone,
     valve trumpet, voice coil, whistle, whizgig, whizzer, wind,
     wind instrument, woofer
  
  

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Horn
     Trumpets were at first horns perforated at the tip, used for
     various purposes (Josh. 6:4,5).
     
       Flasks or vessels were made of horn (1 Sam. 16:1, 13; 1 Kings
     1:39).
     
       But the word is used also metaphorically to denote the
     projecting corners of the altar of burnt offerings (Ex. 27:2)
     and of incense (30:2). The horns of the altar of burnt offerings
     were to be smeared with the blood of the slain bullock (29:12;
     Lev. 4:7-18). The criminal, when his crime was accidental, found
     an asylum by laying hold of the horns of the altar (1 Kings
     1:50; 2:28).
     
       The word also denotes the peak or summit of a hill (Isa. 5:1,
     where the word "hill" is the rendering of the same Hebrew word).
     
       This word is used metaphorically also for strength (Deut.
     33:17) and honour (Job 16:15; Lam. 2:3). Horns are emblems of
     power, dominion, glory, and fierceness, as they are the chief
     means of attack and defence with the animals endowed with them
     (Dan. 8:5, 9; 1 Sam. 2:1; 16:1, 13; 1 Kings 1:39; 22:11; Josh.
     6:4, 5; Ps. 75:5, 10; 132:17; Luke 1:69, etc.). The expression
     "horn of salvation," applied to Christ, means a salvation of
     strength, or a strong Saviour (Luke 1:69). To have the horn
     "exalted" denotes prosperity and triumph (Ps. 89:17, 24). To
     "lift up" the horn is to act proudly (Zech. 1:21).
     
       Horns are also the symbol of royal dignity and power (Jer.
     48:25; Zech. 1:18; Dan. 8:24).