Definition of "horn"

horn

/hɔːn/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural horns
1. (countable) A hard growth of keratin that protrudes from the top of the head of certain animals, usually paired.
2. 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.
  Quotations
  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
3. An antler.
4. (uncountable) The hard substance from which animals' horns are made, sometimes used by man as a material for making various objects.
5. A vessel made from a horn, to contain drink, ink, gunpowder, etc.
  Quotations
  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.
  "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.
  Quotations
  [W]hile riſing ſlow, / Blank, in the leaden-colour'd eaſt, the moon / Wears a wan circle round her blunted horns.
  1726, James Thomson, “Winter”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, page 169, lines 123–125
  1. The high pommel of a saddle; also, either of the projections on a lady's saddle for supporting the leg.
  2. (architecture) The Ionic volute.
  3. (nautical) The outer end of a crosstree; also, one of the projections forming the jaws of a gaff, boom, etc.
  4. (carpentry) A curved projection on the fore part of a plane.
  5. One of the projections at the four corners of the Jewish altar of burnt offering.
    Quotations
    Joab […] caught hold on the horns of the altar
    1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 1 Kings 2:28
7. (countable) Any of several musical wind instruments.
8. (countable, music) An instrument resembling a musical horn and used to signal others.
9. (countable, automotive) A loud alarm, especially one on a motor vehicle.
10. (chiefly sports) A sound signaling the expiration of time.
11. (countable) A conical device used to direct waves.
12. (informal, music, countable) Generally, any brass wind instrument.
13. (slang, countable) A telephone.
14. (vulgar, slang, with definite article) An erection of the penis.
15. (countable, geography) A peninsula or crescent-shaped tract of land.
16. (countable) 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.
17. (botany) An incurved, tapering and pointed appendage found in the flowers of the milkweed (Asclepias).
18. (military) 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.
verb
third-person singular simple present horns, present participle horning, simple past and past participle horned
1. (transitive, of an animal) To assault with the horns.
2. (transitive) To furnish with horns.
3. (transitive, slang, obsolete) To cuckold.