Definition of "inkhorn"

Goe good partner, goe get you to Francis Seacole, bid him bring his pen and inkehorne to the Gaole: we are now to examine thoſe men.

1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene v], page 113, column 2

[…] and one man among them was clothed with linnen, with a writers inkehorne by his side, and they went in and stood beside the brasen altar.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Ezekiel 9:2

Men in helmets have divided that, with swords; men in wigs, with quill and inkhorn, to divide it: and even more hateful these latter, if more peaceably; for the wig-method is at once irresistibler and baser.

1837, Thomas Carlyle, chapter V, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume I (The Bastille), London: Chapman and Hall, book III (The Parliament of Paris), page 85

[…] from his pocket the notary drew his papers and inkhorn,Wrote with a steady hand the date and the age of the parties,

1847 November 1, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie, Boston, Mass.: William D. Ticknor & Company, page 44

“All right,” said Haley, his face beaming with delight; and pulling out an old inkhorn, he proceeded to fill out a bill of sale, which, in a few moments, he handed to the young man.

1851 June – 1852 April, Harriet Beecher Stowe, chapter XIV, in Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly, volume I, Boston, Mass.: John P[unchard] Jewett & Company; Cleveland, Oh.: Jewett, Proctor & Worthington, published 20 March 1852, page 219

When a man of the theatre stirs his inkhorn he is frequently tempted to write a play about the theatre.

1934 October 21, Brooks Atkinson, “Grounding a Mortal Coil”, in The New York Times‎

And ere that we will ſuffer ſuch a Prince,So kinde a Father of the Common-weale,To be diſgraced by an Inke-horne Mate,Wee and our Wiues and Children all will fightAnd haue our bodyes ſlaughtred by thy foes.

1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene i], page 106, column 2

The tale retained its bookish and even inkhorn appeal, since established short-story forms continued to be read, and new ones written.

2018, Jan M. Ziolkowski, The Juggler of Notre Dame and the Medievalizing of Modernity, volume 4, page 144