HORN

horn
    n 1: a noisemaker (as at parties or games) that makes a loud
         noise when you blow through it
    2: one of the bony outgrowths on the heads of certain ungulates
    3: a noise made by the driver of an automobile to give warning;
    4: a high pommel of a Western saddle (usually metal covered with
       leather) [syn: {horn}, {saddle horn}]
    5: a brass musical instrument with a brilliant tone; has a
       narrow tube and a flared bell and is played by means of
       valves [syn: {cornet}, {horn}, {trumpet}, {trump}]
    6: any hard protuberance from the head of an organism that is
       similar to or suggestive of a horn
    7: the material (mostly keratin) that covers the horns of
       ungulates and forms hooves and claws and nails
    8: a device having the shape of a horn; "horns at the ends of a
       new moon"; "the hornof an anvil"; "the cleat had two horns"
    9: an alarm device that makes a loud warning sound
    10: a brass musical instrument consisting of a conical tube that
        is coiled into a spiral and played by means of valves [syn:
        {French horn}, {horn}]
    11: a device on an automobile for making a warning noise [syn:
        {automobile horn}, {car horn}, {motor horn}, {horn},
        {hooter}]
    v 1: stab or pierce with a horn or tusk; "the rhino horned the
         explorer" [syn: {horn}, {tusk}]
    

Horn \Horn\ (h[^o]rn), n. [AS. horn; akin to D. horen, hoorn,
   G., Icel., Sw., & Dan. horn, Goth. ha['u]rn, W., Gael., & Ir.
   corn, L. cornu, Gr. ke`ras, and perh. also to E. cheer,
   cranium, cerebral; cf. Skr. [,c]iras head. Cf. {Carat},
   {Corn} on the foot, {Cornea}, {Corner}, {Cornet},
   {Cornucopia}, {Hart}.]
   1. A hard, projecting, and usually pointed organ, growing
      upon the heads of certain animals, esp. of the ruminants,
      as cattle, goats, and the like. The hollow horns of the Ox
      family consist externally of true horn, and are never
      shed.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. The antler of a deer, which is of bone throughout, and
      annually shed and renewed.
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   3. (Zool.) Any natural projection or excrescence from an
      animal, resembling or thought to resemble a horn in
      substance or form; esp.:
      (a) A projection from the beak of a bird, as in the
          hornbill.
      (b) A tuft of feathers on the head of a bird, as in the
          horned owl.
      (c) A hornlike projection from the head or thorax of an
          insect, or the head of a reptile, or fish.
      (d) A sharp spine in front of the fins of a fish, as in
          the horned pout.
          [1913 Webster]

   4. (Bot.) An incurved, tapering and pointed appendage found
      in the flowers of the milkweed ({Asclepias}).
      [1913 Webster]

   5. Something made of a horn, or in resemblance of a horn; as:
      (a) A wind instrument of music; originally, one made of a
          horn (of an ox or a ram); now applied to various
          elaborately wrought instruments of brass or other
          metal, resembling a horn in shape. "Wind his horn
          under the castle wall." --Spenser. See {French horn},
          under {French}.
      (b) A drinking cup, or beaker, as having been originally
          made of the horns of cattle. "Horns of mead and ale."
          --Mason.
      (c) The cornucopia, or horn of plenty. See {Cornucopia}.
          "Fruits and flowers from Amalth[ae]a's horn."
          --Milton.
      (d) A vessel made of a horn; esp., one designed for
          containing powder; anciently, a small vessel for
          carrying liquids. "Samuel took the hornof oil and
          anointed him [David]." --1 Sam. xvi. 13.
      (e) The pointed beak of an anvil.
      (f) The high pommel of a saddle; also, either of the
          projections on a lady's saddle for supporting the leg.
      (g) (Arch.) The Ionic volute.
      (h) (Naut.) The outer end of a crosstree; also, one of the
          projections forming the jaws of a gaff, boom, etc.
      (i) (Carp.) A curved projection on the fore part of a
          plane.
      (j) One of the projections at the four corners of the
          Jewish altar of burnt offering. "Joab . . . caught
          hold on the horns of the altar." --1 Kings ii. 28.
          [1913 Webster]

   6. One of the curved ends of a crescent; esp., an extremity
      or cusp of the moon when crescent-shaped.
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            The moon
            Wears a wan circle round her blunted horns.
                                                  --Thomson.
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   7. (Mil.) The curving extremity of the wing of an army or of
      a squadron drawn up in a crescentlike form.
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            Sharpening in mooned horns
            Their phalanx.                        --Milton.
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   8. The tough, fibrous material of which true horns are
      composed, being, in the Ox family, chiefly albuminous,
      with some phosphate of lime; also, any similar substance,
      as that which forms the hoof crust of horses, sheep, and
      cattle; as, a spoon of horn.
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   9. (Script.) A symbol of strength, power, glory, exaltation,
      or pride.
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            The Lord is . . . the horn of my salvation. --Ps.
                                                  xviii. 2.
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   10. An emblem of a cuckold; -- used chiefly in the plural.
       "Thicker than a cuckold's horn." --Shak.
       [1913 Webster]

   11. the {telephone}; as, on the horn. [slang]
       [PJC]

   12. a body of water shaped like a horn; as, the Golden Horn
       in Istanbul.
       [PJC]

   {Horn block}, the frame or pedestal in which a railway car
      axle box slides up and down; -- also called {horn plate}.
      

   {Horn of a dilemma}. See under {Dilemma}.

   {Horn distemper}, a disease of cattle, affecting the internal
      substance of the horn.

   {Horn drum}, a wheel with long curved scoops, for raising
      water.

   {Horn lead} (Chem.), chloride of lead.

   {Horn maker}, a maker of cuckolds. [Obs.] --Shak.

   {Horn mercury}. (Min.) Same as {Horn quicksilver} (below).

   {Horn poppy} (Bot.), a plant allied to the poppy ({Glaucium
      luteum}), found on the sandy shores of Great Britain and
      Virginia; -- called also {horned poppy}. --Gray.

   {Horn pox} (Med.), abortive smallpox with an eruption like
      that of chicken pox.

   {Horn quicksilver} (Min.), native calomel, or bichloride of
      mercury.

   {Horn shell} (Zool.), any long, sharp, spiral, gastropod
      shell, of the genus {Cerithium}, and allied genera.

   {Horn silver} (Min.), cerargyrite.

   {Horn slate}, a gray, siliceous stone.

   {To pull in one's horns}, {To haul in one's horns}, to
      withdraw some arrogant pretension; to cease a demand or
      withdraw an assertion. [Colloq.]

   {To raise the horn}, or {To lift the horn} (Script.), to
      exalt one's self; to act arrogantly. "'Gainst them that
      raised thee dost thou lift thy horn?" --Milton.

   {To take a horn}, to take a drink of intoxicating liquor.
      [Low]
      [1913 Webster]
    

Horn \Horn\, v. t.
   1. To furnish with horns; to give the shape of a horn to.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To cause to wear horns; to cuckold. [Obs.] --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]
    

Horn
Trumpets were at first horns perforated at the tip, used for
various purposes (Josh. 6:4,5).

  Flasks or vessels were made of horn (1 Sam. 16:1, 13; 1 Kings
1:39).

  But the word is used also metaphorically to denote the
projecting corners of the altar of burnt offerings (Ex. 27:2)
and of incense (30:2). The horns of the altar of burnt offerings
were to be smeared with the blood of the slain bullock (29:12;
Lev. 4:7-18). The criminal, when his crime was accidental, found
an asylum by laying hold of the horns of the altar (1 Kings
1:50; 2:28).

  The word also denotes the peak or summit of a hill (Isa. 5:1,
where the word "hill" is the rendering of the same Hebrew word).

  This word is used metaphorically also for strength (Deut.
33:17) and honour (Job 16:15; Lam. 2:3). Horns are emblems of
power, dominion, glory, and fierceness, as they are the chief
means of attack and defence with the animals endowed with them
(Dan. 8:5, 9; 1 Sam. 2:1; 16:1, 13; 1 Kings 1:39; 22:11; Josh.
6:4, 5; Ps. 75:5, 10; 132:17; Luke 1:69, etc.). The expression
"horn of salvation," applied to Christ, means a salvation of
strength, or a strong Saviour (Luke 1:69). To have the horn
"exalted" denotes prosperity and triumph (Ps. 89:17, 24). To
"lift up" the horn is to act proudly (Zech. 1:21).

  Horns are also the symbol of royal dignity and power (Jer.
48:25; Zech. 1:18; Dan. 8:24).
    

161 Moby Thesaurus words for "horn":
      Klaxon, Mayday, SOS, acoustical network, aerophone, air-raid alarm,
      alarm, alarm bell, alarm clock, alarm signal, alarum, alert,
      all clear, alpenhorn, alphorn, althorn, alto horn, ballad horn,
      baritone, bass horn, beacon, bell, bellyband, blinking light,
      boiler factory, boiler room, brass choir, brass wind,
      brass-wind instrument, brasses, bugle, bugle horn, bull-roarer,
      burglar alarm, buzzer, capacitor speaker, catcall, cherry bomb,
      cinch, clack, clacker, clapper, clarion, coaxial speaker, cone,
      cornet, cornet-a-pistons, corno di caccia, cornopean, cracker,
      cricket, crossover network, crostarie, diaphragm, double reed,
      double-bell euphonium, dynamic speaker, earphone,
      electrodynamic speaker, electromagnetic speaker,
      electrostatic speaker, embouchure, euphonium,
      excited-field speaker, fiery cross, fire alarm, fire bell,
      fire flag, firecracker, five-minute gun, flashing light, fog bell,
      fog signal, foghorn, full-fidelity speaker, gale warning, girt,
      girth, gore, headphone, headset, helicon, high-fidelity speaker,
      high-frequency speaker, hooter, hue and cry, hunting horn,
      hurricane warning, jockey, key, key trumpet, lighthouse, lip,
      lituus, loudspeaker, low-frequency speaker, lur, mellophone,
      midrange speaker, monorange speaker, mouthpiece,
      moving-coil speaker, noisemaker, note of alarm, occulting light,
      ophicleide, orchestral horn, permanent magnet speaker, pipe,
      pocket trumpet, police whistle, pommel, post horn, rattle,
      rattlebox, reed, sackbut, saxhorn, saxtuba, serpent,
      signal of distress, siren, slide, slide trombone, sliphorn,
      small-craft warning, snapper, sousaphone, speaker, speaker system,
      speaker unit, steam whistle, still alarm, stirrup, storm cone,
      storm flag, storm warning, surcingle, tenor tuba, ticktack, tocsin,
      tooter, triaxial speaker, tromba, trombone, trumpet, tuba, tusk,
      tweeter, two-minute gun, upside-down flag, valve, valve trombone,
      valve trumpet, voice coil, whistle, whizgig, whizzer, wind,
      wind instrument, woofer