horn
pronunciation
How to pronounce horn in British English:
UK [hɔːn]
How to pronounce horn in American English:
US [hɔːrn]
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- Noun:
- a noisemaker (as at parties or games) that makes a loud noise when you blow through it
- one of the bony outgrowths on the heads of certain ungulates
- a noise made by the driver of an automobile to give warning
- a high pommel of a Western saddle (usually metal covered with leather)
- a brass musical instrument with a brilliant tone; has a narrow tube and a flared bell and is played by means of valves
- any outgrowth from the head of an organism that resembles a horn
- the material (mostly keratin) that covers the horns of ungulates and forms hooves and claws and nails
- an alarm device that makes a loud warning sound
- a brass musical instrument consisting of a conical tube that is coiled into a spiral and played by means of valves
- a device on an automobile for making a warning noise
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- Verb:
- stab or pierce with a horn or tusk
Word Origin
- horn
- horn: [OE] Horn belongs to a very large Indo- European word-family that has made an enormous number of contributions to English. Its ultimate source is Indo-European *ker-, whose offspring predominantly denote ‘animal’s horn’, but also include words for ‘top’ and ‘head’. Its Germanic descendant, *khornaz, has not been that prolific (it has produced English, German, Swedish, and Danish horn and Dutch hoorn, and hornet is probably a derivative), but other branches of the family have been more fruitful sources.From Latin cornū ‘horn’, for example, come English corn ‘hard skin’, cornea, corner, cornet, cornucopia, unicorn, and possibly scherzo and scorn; Greek kéras ‘horn’ has given English keratin, rhinoceros, and triceratops; while Sanskrit śrngam ‘horn’ lies behind English ginger.And besides these, English hart ‘male deer’ [OE] goes back to a derivative of *ker-.=> corn, corner, cornet, ginger, hart, hornet, keratin, rhinoceros, triceratops
- horn (n.)
- Old English horn "horn of an animal," also "wind instrument" (originally made from animal horns), from Proto-Germanic *hurnaz (cognates: German Horn, Dutch horen, Gothic haurn), from PIE *ker- (1) "horn; head, uppermost part of the body," with derivatives refering to horned animals, horn-shaped objects and projecting parts (cognates: Greek karnon "horn," Latin cornu "horn," Sanskrit srngam "horn," Persian sar "head," Avestan sarah- "head," Greek koryphe "head," Latin cervus "deer," Welsh carw "deer"). Reference to car horns is first recorded 1901. Figurative senses of Latin cornu included "salient point, chief argument; wing, flank; power, courage, strength." Jazz slang sense of "trumpet" is by 1921. Meaning "telephone" is by 1945.
- horn (v.)
- 1690s, "to furnish with horns," from horn (n.). Earlier in figurative sense of "to cuckold" (1540s). Meaning "to push with the horns" (of cattle, buffalo, etc.) is from 1851, American English; phrase horn in "intrude" is by 1880, American English, originally cowboy slang.
Example
- 1. Democracy is the horn 's best hope .
- 2. You said iran I think he said the horn of africa .
- 3. Yemenis rapidly became the world 's biggest importers of rhino horn .
- 4. Famine worsened in the horn of africa , especially in somalia .
- 5. About 10 million people are at risk of famine in the horn of africa .