horn

plural horns

1. countablebiologyA hard growth of keratin that protrudes from the top of the head of certain animals, usually paired.
2. countableuncountableAny 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.
3. countableuncountableAn antler.
4. uncountableThe hard substance from which animals' horns are made, sometimes used by man as a material for making various objects.

   an umbrella with a handle made of horn

   Synonyms: keratin

5. countableuncountableA vessel made from a horn, to contain drink, ink, gunpowder, etc.

   horns of mead and ale

   1775, William Mason, The Poems of Mr. Gray. To which are prefixed Memoirs of his Life and Writings by W. Mason.

   2 more examples

   The one brought out a filled up horn.

   1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 179

   I guarantee you a mighty feast, horns of ale, and afterwards wrestling and racing and contests of strength.

   2017, Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 143

6. An object whose shape resembles a horn, such as cornucopia or the point of an anvil.
   1. countableuncountableOne of the two corners of a crescent, particularly of the crescent moon

      [W]hile riſing ſlow, / Blank, in the leaden-colour'd eaſt, the moon / Wears a wan circle round her blunted horns.

      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

   2. countableuncountableThe high pommel of a saddle; also, either of the projections on a lady's saddle for supporting the leg.

      Buck Saddler carried a rifle and a shotgun on the saddle, and two belts of cartridges slung over the horn.

      1950, Dorothy M. Johnson, Prairie Kid; in Indian Country, London: Corgi, 1961, page 51

   3. countableuncountablearchitectureThe Ionic volute.
   4. countableuncountablenauticalThe outer end of a crosstree; also, one of the projections forming the jaws of a gaff, boom, etc.
   5. countableuncountablebusinessA curved projection on the fore part of a plane.
   6. countableuncountableOne of the projections at the four corners of the Jewish altar of burnt offering.

      Joab […] caught hold on the horns of the altar

      1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Kings 2:28

7. countableAny of several musical wind instruments.
8. countableentertainmentAn instrument resembling a musical horn and used to signal others.

   hunting horn

9. countableautomotiveA loud alarm, especially one on a motor vehicle.

   Synonyms: hooter, klaxon

10. countableuncountablehobbiesA sound signaling the expiration of time.

    The shot was after the horn and therefore did not count.

11. countableA conical device used to direct waves.

    antenna horn

    1 more example

    loudspeaker horn

    Synonyms: funnel

12. countableinformalentertainmentGenerally, any brass wind instrument.
13. countableslangA telephone.

    Get him on the horn so that we can have a discussion about this.

    Synonyms: blower, dog and bone, phone

14. countableslanguncountablevulgarwith definite articleAn erection of the penis.

    Synonyms: boner, hard-on, stiffy

15. countablegeographyA peninsula or projecting tract of land.

    to navigate around the horn

    1 more example

    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.

    1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide

    Synonyms: peninsula

16. countableA 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.
17. countableuncountablebiologyAn incurved, tapering and pointed appendage found in the flowers of the milkweed (Asclepias).
18. countableuncountablegovernmentIn 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.

present singular third person horns · participle present horning · participle past horned · past horned

1. transitiveOf an animal, to assault with the horns.
2. transitiveTo furnish with horns.
3. obsoleteslangtransitiveTo cuckold.
4. IndiaSingaporeintransitiveTo sound the horn of a motor vehicle; to honk.

   , His Precious Gem He horned five times but the man didn't moved his car away.

1. Cape Horn, at the southern tip of South America.

   Sailing around the Horn was an arduous journey for sailing ships.

2. The Horn of Africa, a peninsula of Africa which juts into the Arabian Sea.

   […] countries fail to explore the possibilities of producing other crops of high value and demand in the Horn or elsewhere.

   1998, John Markakis, Resource conflict in the Horn of Africa, page 185

   3 more examples

   At the same time, it would be erroneous to exaggerate U.S. interests, to overreact to political developments in the Horn, or to adopt imprudent policies based on emotional reactions to Soviet and Cuban involvement.

   1978, War in the Horn of Africa, report of the United States Fact-Finding Mission to Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya, page 4

   The word Somali itself today refers to any inhabitant of Somalia; it also refers to any person of ethnic Somali origin in the Horn or elsewhere.

   2001, Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi, Culture and Customs of Somalia, →ISBN, page 8

   Although major coups had taken off in the Arab world in Egypt in 1952, this was the first coup in the Horn or indeed in post-independence Africa.

   2012, Peter Woodward, Crisis In The Horn of Africa, →ISBN, page 39

plural Horns

1. countableuncountableA surname.
2. countableuncountableA former civil parish in Rutland, England, abolished in 2016 on the formation of Exton and Horn parish.
3. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Dawes County, Nebraska, United States.