horn

—hornish, adj. —hornless, adj. —hornlessness, n. —hornlike, adj.

/hawrn/, n.

1. one of the bony, permanent, hollow paired growths, often curved and pointed, that project from the upper part of the head of certain ungulate mammals, as cattle, sheep, goats, or antelopes.

2. a similar growth, sometimes of hair, as the median horn or horns on the snout of the rhinoceros, or the tusk of the narwhal.

3. antler.

4. a process projecting from the head of an animal and suggestive of such a growth, as a feeler, tentacle, or crest.

5. the bony substance of which such animal growths are composed.

6. any similar substance, as that forming tortoise shell, hoofs, nails, or corns.

7. an article made of the material of an animal horn or like substance, as a thimble, spoon, or shoehorn.

8. any projection or extremity resembling the horn of an animal.

9. something resembling or suggesting an animal horn: a drinking horn.

10. a part resembling an animal horn attributed to deities, demons, etc.: the devil's horn.

11. Usually, horns. the imaginary projections on a cuckold's brow.

12. Music.

a. a wind instrument, originally formed from the hollow horn of an animal but now usually made of brass or other metal or plastic.

b. See French horn.

13. something used as or resembling such a wind instrument.

14. Slang. a trumpet.

15. an instrument for sounding a warning signal: an automobile horn.

16. Aeron. any of certain short, armlike levers on the control surfaces of an airplane.

17. Radio.

a. a tube of varying cross section used in some loudspeakers to couple the diaphragm to the sound-transmitting space.

b. Slang. a loudspeaker.

18. Slang. a telephone or radiotelephone: I've been on the horn all morning.

19. the high protuberant part at the front and top of certain saddles; a pommel, esp. a high one.

20. Carpentry. (in a door or window frame) that part of a jamb extending above the head.

21. one of the curved extremities of a crescent, esp. of the crescent moon.

22. a crescent-shaped tract of land.

23. a pyramidal mountain peak, esp. one having concave faces carved by glaciation.

24. a symbol of power or strength, as in the Bible: a horn of salvation.

25. each of the alternatives of a dilemma.

26. the narrow, more pointed part of an anvil.

27. Metalworking. a projection at the side of the end of a rolled sheet or strip, caused by unevenness of the roll due to wear.

28. Horol. (in a lever escapement) either of the two prongs at the end of the lever fork guarding against overbanking when the guard pin is in the crescent.

29. blow (or toot) one's own horn, Informal. to publicize or boast about one's abilities or achievements: He's a bright fellow, but likes to blow his own horn too much.

30. draw or pull in one's horns, to restrain oneself or become less belligerent; retreat: Since he lost so much gambling, he's drawn in his horns a bit.

31. lock horns, to conflict, quarrel, or disagree: The administration and the staff locked horns over the proposed measures.

32. on the horns of a dilemma, confronted with two equally disagreeable choices.

v.t.

33. to cuckold.

34. to butt or gore with the horns.

35. Shipbuilding. to set up (a frame or bulkhead of a vessel being built) at a proper angle to the keel with due regard to the inclination of the keel on the ways; plumb.

36. horn in, Informal. to thrust oneself forward obtrusively; intrude or interrupt: Every time we try to have a private conversation, the boss horns in.

adj.

37. made of horn.

[bef. 900; ME horn(e) (n.), OE horn; c. D horen, ON, Dan, Sw horn, G Horn, Goth haurn, L cornu CORNU, Ir, Welsh corn; akin to Gk kéras horn (see CERAT-)]

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(as used in expressions)

English horn

French horn

Horn of Africa

Horn Cape

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▪ musical instrument group

French  Cor,  German  Horn,  

      in music, any of several wind instruments sounded by vibration of the player's tensed lips against a mouthpiece and primarily derived from animal horns blown at the truncated narrow end or, as among many tropical peoples, at a hole in the side. Metal construction, at first imitating natural shapes, dates as far back as the Danish Bronze Age lurs, cast in the shape of mammoth tusks, and the Roman buccina and semicircular cornu. Instruments of horn were known in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Israel (the shofar), Greece, and throughout South and West Africa and continue to be played by shepherds in Scandinavia, the Balkans, parts of Spain, and The Sudan.

      Medieval European ivory horns, imported from Byzantium in the 10th century, were associated with royalty; these ivory (sometimes bone) horns, often richly carved, were called oliphants. The oxhorns of medieval huntsmen and watchmen sounded but one or two notes of the natural harmonic series—i.e., the notes produced on a horn or trumpet without finger holes or valves, caused by the air column vibrating in fractional segments (as for the fundamental note C: c–g–c′–e′–g′–b♭′ [approximate pitch]–c″–d″–e″, etc.). From these instruments later modern metal horns were developed. This process included refining the bore profile (which remains mainly conical except where impractical, as through the valve mechanism) and the bell form, and the prolongation of the bore to lower the fundamental pitch so as to bring higher notes of a tube's natural series within the upper sound-wave frequency limit of a player's lip vibration, thereby extending the instrument's melodic possibilities. Horns retaining the curved shape but with lengthened tube include the 18th-century bugle horn. An English straight-built group, derived from early 19th-century hunting horns, includes the brass post horn (employing harmonics 2–5, written c′–g′–c″–e″ but sounding a sixth higher); the copper coach horn; and the 20th-century English hunting horn, a reduced version with one note only.

      Accommodation of increased length by making one or more coils in the tube was well known in the 16th century, both in small once-coiled horns that led to continental hunting and post horns (whence the cornet) and in close-coiled helical horns with 5 or more feet (about 1 ¹/₂ metres) of tubing. The large circular French hunting horn, the trompe (or cor) de chasse, appeared in about 1650; the modern orchestral, or French, horn (French horn) derives from it. Still played in modern France and Belgium by huntsmen, brass bands, and horn-playing clubs, it varies in diameter and number of coils but is often about 15 inches (38 centimetres) across, coiled three times, with 15 feet (4 ¹/₂ metres) of tubing. It is held on the player's arm with one hand alone; the harmonics most used are numbers 4 to 12 (written in C but sounding in D a seventh lower), though numbers 2 and 3 are used as bass notes when the horns are played in harmony. See also French horn; mellophone; saxhorn.

▪ zoology

      in zoology, either of the pair of hard processes that grow from the upper portion of the head of many hoofed mammals. The term is also loosely applied to antlers and to similar structures present on certain lizards, birds, dinosaurs, and insects. True horns—simple unbranched structures that are never shed—are found in cattle, sheep, goats, and antelopes. They consist of a core of bone surrounded by a layer of horn (keratin) that is in turn covered by keratinized epidermis.

      The antlers of deer are not horns. Shed yearly, they are composed entirely of bone, though they bear a velvety epidermal covering during the growth period. They become increasingly branched with age. The “horn” of a rhinoceros is composed of fused, heavily keratinized hairlike epidermis. Horns serve as weapons of defense against predators and of offense in battles between males for breeding access to females.

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