Library / English Dictionary

HORN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

One of the bony outgrowths on the heads of certain ungulates

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

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

appendage; outgrowth; process (a natural prolongation or projection from a part of an organism either animal or plant)

Meronyms (substance of "horn"):

bone; os (rigid connective tissue that makes up the skeleton of vertebrates)

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

antler (deciduous horn of a member of the deer family)

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

bull (uncastrated adult male of domestic cattle)

ram; tup (uncastrated adult male sheep)

caprine animal; goat (any of numerous agile ruminants related to sheep but having a beard and straight horns)

Derivation:

horn (stab or pierce with a horn or tusk)

horny (having horns or hornlike projections)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any hard protuberance from the head of an organism that is similar to or suggestive of a horn

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

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

appendage; outgrowth; process (a natural prolongation or projection from a part of an organism either animal or plant)

Derivation:

horn (stab or pierce with a horn or tusk)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A device on an automobile for making a warning noise

Synonyms:

automobile horn; car horn; hooter; horn; motor horn

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

alarm; alarm system; warning device (a device that signals the occurrence of some undesirable event)

Meronyms (parts of "horn"):

horn button (a button that you press to activate the horn of an automobile)

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

auto; automobile; car; machine; motorcar (a motor vehicle with four wheels; usually propelled by an internal combustion engine)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A brass musical instrument with a brilliant tone; has a narrow tube and a flared bell and is played by means of valves

Synonyms:

cornet; horn; trump; trumpet

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

brass; brass instrument (a wind instrument that consists of a brass tube (usually of variable length) that is blown by means of a cup-shaped or funnel-shaped mouthpiece)

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

serpent (an obsolete bass cornet; resembles a snake)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A brass musical instrument consisting of a conical tube that is coiled into a spiral and played by means of valves

Synonyms:

French horn; horn

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

brass; brass instrument (a wind instrument that consists of a brass tube (usually of variable length) that is blown by means of a cup-shaped or funnel-shaped mouthpiece)

Sense 6

Meaning:

An alarm device that makes a loud warning sound

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

alarm; alarm system; warning device (a device that signals the occurrence of some undesirable event)

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

air horn (a pneumatic horn)

foghorn (a warning device consisting of a horn that generates a loud low tone)

claxon; klaxon (a kind of loud horn formerly used on motor vehicles)

shofar; shophar (an ancient musical horn made from the horn of a ram; used in ancient times by the Israelites to sound a warning or a summons; used in synagogues today on solemn occasions)

Sense 7

Meaning:

A high pommel of a Western saddle (usually metal covered with leather)

Synonyms:

horn; saddle horn

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

pommel; saddlebow (handgrip formed by the raised front part of a saddle)

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

stock saddle; Western saddle (an ornamented saddle used by cowboys; has a high horn to hold the lariat)

Sense 8

Meaning:

A noisemaker (as at parties or games) that makes a loud noise when you blow through it

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

noisemaker (a device (such as a clapper or bell or horn) used to make a loud noise at a celebration)

Domain category:

game (a contest with rules to determine a winner)

Sense 9

Meaning:

A device having the shape of a horn

Example:

the cleat had two horns

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

device (an instrumentality invented for a particular purpose)

Sense 10

Meaning:

A noise made by the driver of an automobile to give warning

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

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

alarm; alarum; alert; warning signal (an automatic signal (usually a sound) warning of danger)

Sense 11

Meaning:

The material (mostly keratin) that covers the horns of ungulates and forms hooves and claws and nails

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

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

animal material (material derived from animals)

Meronyms (substance of "horn"):

ceratin; keratin (a fibrous scleroprotein that occurs in the outer layer of the skin and in horny tissues such as hair, feathers, nails, and hooves)

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

baleen; whalebone (a horny material from the upper jaws of certain whales; used as the ribs of fans or as stays in corsets)

tortoiseshell (the mottled horny substance of the shell of some turtles)

Derivation:

horny (made of horn (or of a substance resembling horn))

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Stab or pierce with a horn or tusk

Example:

the rhino horned the explorer

Synonyms:

horn; tusk

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

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

pierce; thrust (penetrate or cut through with a sharp instrument)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

horn (one of the bony outgrowths on the heads of certain ungulates)

horn (any hard protuberance from the head of an organism that is similar to or suggestive of a horn)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Uranus will poke his horns into this new moon, so no matter which person in your life this new moon points to, life won’t always be smooth.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

He crushed them and broke them on his large horns.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

One of the saddles has a movable horn, and can be easily adapted for Mina, if required.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

A huge deer, with branching horns, a magnificent creature which carried itself like a king, came down with its doe and two fawns and drank beside the armadillos.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

So was the black horned thing seated aloof on a rock, surveying a distant crowd surrounding a gallows.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The proprioceptive sensory neuron of a Golgi tendon organ, projects to the motor neurons located within the ventral horn of the spinal cord, where the inhibition occurs.

(Golgi Tendon Organ, NCI Thesaurus)

Almond-shaped group of basal nuclei anterior to the inferior horn of the lateral ventricle of the brain, within the temporal lobe.

(Murine Amygdala, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

It is characterized by fingernail deformities, absence or hypoplasia of the patellae, iliac horns, deformities of the radial heads, nephropathy, and glaucoma.

(Nail-Patella Syndrome, NCI Thesaurus)

Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ-DI) Aids or devices that you usually use for any of these activities - Devices used for dressing (button hook, zipper pull, long-handled shoe horn, etc.).

(HAQ-DI - Aids or Devices - Used For Dressing, NCI Thesaurus)

A muscle originating from the cricoid arch on the anterior surface in which the posterior section runs outward to the thyroid's inferior horn and the anterior section runs upward to the thyroid's ala.

(Cricothyroid Muscle, NCI Thesaurus)