Library / English Dictionary

CORN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Something sentimental or trite

Example:

that movie was pure corn

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("corn" is a kind of...):

drippiness; mawkishness; mushiness; sentimentality; sloppiness; soupiness (falsely emotional in a maudlin way)

Derivation:

corny (dull and tiresome but with pretensions of significance or originality)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Ears of corn that can be prepared and served for human food

Synonyms:

corn; edible corn

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("corn" is a kind of...):

cereal; food grain; grain (foodstuff prepared from the starchy grains of cereal grasses)

Meronyms (parts of "corn"):

green corn; sugar corn; sweet corn; sweet corn plant; Zea mays rugosa; Zea saccharata (a corn plant developed in order to have young ears that are sweet and suitable for eating)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "corn"):

green corn; sweet corn (corn that can be eaten as a vegetable while still young and soft)

hominy (hulled corn with the bran and germ removed)

popcorn (small kernels of corn exploded by heat)

Holonyms ("corn" is a part of...):

corn; Indian corn; maize; Zea mays (tall annual cereal grass bearing kernels on large ears: widely cultivated in America in many varieties; the principal cereal in Mexico and Central and South America since pre-Columbian times)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Whiskey distilled from a mash of not less than 80 percent corn

Synonyms:

corn; corn whiskey; corn whisky

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("corn" is a kind of...):

whiskey; whisky (a liquor made from fermented mash of grain)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "corn"):

bootleg; corn liquor; moonshine (whiskey illegally distilled from a corn mash)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Tall annual cereal grass bearing kernels on large ears: widely cultivated in America in many varieties; the principal cereal in Mexico and Central and South America since pre-Columbian times

Synonyms:

corn; Indian corn; maize; Zea mays

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("corn" is a kind of...):

cereal; cereal grass (grass whose starchy grains are used as food: wheat; rice; rye; oats; maize; buckwheat; millet)

Meronyms (parts of "corn"):

corn cob; corncob (the hard cylindrical core that bears the kernels of an ear of corn)

corn stalk; cornstalk (the stalk of a corn plant)

corn; edible corn (ears of corn that can be prepared and served for human food)

capitulum; ear; spike (fruiting spike of a cereal plant especially corn)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "corn"):

field corn (corn grown primarily for animal feed or market grain)

green corn; sugar corn; sweet corn; sweet corn plant; Zea mays rugosa; Zea saccharata (a corn plant developed in order to have young ears that are sweet and suitable for eating)

popcorn; Zea mays everta (corn having small ears and kernels that burst when exposed to dry heat)

Holonyms ("corn" is a member of...):

genus Zea; Zea (corn)

Derivation:

corn (feed (cattle) with corn)

Sense 5

Meaning:

(Great Britain) any of various cereal plants (especially the dominant crop of the region--wheat in Great Britain or oats in Scotland and Ireland)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("corn" is a kind of...):

cereal; cereal grass (grass whose starchy grains are used as food: wheat; rice; rye; oats; maize; buckwheat; millet)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The dried grains or kernels or corn used as animal feed or ground for meal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("corn" is a kind of...):

kernel (a single whole grain of a cereal)

Meronyms (substance of "corn"):

corn oil (oil from the germs of corn grains)

Derivation:

corn (feed (cattle) with corn)

Sense 7

Meaning:

A hard thickening of the skin (especially on the top or sides of the toes) caused by the pressure of ill-fitting shoes

Synonyms:

clavus; corn

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("corn" is a kind of...):

callosity; callus (an area of skin that is thick or hard from continual pressure or friction (as the sole of the foot))

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Preserve with salt

Example:

corned beef

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "corn" is one way to...):

keep; preserve (prevent (food) from rotting)

Domain category:

cookery; cooking; preparation (the act of preparing something (as food) by the application of heat)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Feed (cattle) with corn

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Hypernyms (to "corn" is one way to...):

feed; give (give food to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

corn (tall annual cereal grass bearing kernels on large ears: widely cultivated in America in many varieties; the principal cereal in Mexico and Central and South America since pre-Columbian times)

corn (the dried grains or kernels or corn used as animal feed or ground for meal)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Oil from corn or corn plant.

(Corn Oil, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

If corn is not to be relied upon, what is?

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I have sown my corn, and Nature has her work to do in making it sprout; if he sprout at all, there's some promise; and I wait till the ear begins to swell.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Here I walked on for some time, but could see little on either side, it being now near harvest, and the corn rising at least forty feet.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

It can cause corns and small warts.

(Arsenic, Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry)

Only, he added, I'm glad I trod on Master Pew's corns, for by this time he had heard my story.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

A new study exposes how a genetically diverse group of corn plants is likely to respond to future ozone levels.

(Study finds rising ozone a hidden threat to corn, National Science Foundation)

It is a contaminant of cereals, especially corn.

(Fumonisin B1, NCI Thesaurus)

A substance found in many foods that come from plants, including corn, wheat, rice, and soybeans, and in large amounts in cereals and legumes.

(Inositol hexaphosphate, NCI Dictionary)

It can result from normal use (corns, calluses), chronic inflammation (eczema), or genetic disorders (X-linked ichthyosis, ichthyosis vulgaris).

(Hyperkeratosis, NCI Dictionary)