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Horn vs Dorn - What's the difference?

horn | dorn |

As nouns the difference between horn and dorn

is that horn is a hard growth of keratin that protrudes from the top of the head of certain animals, usually paired while dorn is a British ray; the thornback.

As a verb horn

is to assault with the horns.

As a proper noun Horn

is Cape Horn, at the southern tip of South America.

horn

English

Noun

  • (countable) A hard growth of keratin that protrudes from the top of the head of certain animals, usually paired.
  • Any similar real or imaginary growth or projection such as the elongated tusk of a narwhal, the eyestalk of a snail, the pointed growth on the nose of a rhinoceros, or the hornlike projection on the head of a demon or similar.
  • An antler.
  • (uncountable) The hard substance from which animals' horns are made, sometimes used by man as a material for making various objects.
    • an umbrella with a handle made of horn
  • An object whose shape resembles a horn, such as cornucopia, the point of an anvil, or a vessel for gunpowder or liquid.
  • * Thomson
    • The moon / Wears a wan circle round her blunted horns .
  • * Mason
    • horns of mead and ale
  • # The high pommel of a saddle; also, either of the projections on a lady's saddle for supporting the leg.
  • # (architecture) The Ionic volute.
  • # (nautical) The outer end of a crosstree; also, one of the projections forming the jaws of a gaff, boom, etc.
  • # (carpentry) A curved projection on the fore part of a plane.
  • # One of the projections at the four corners of the Jewish altar of burnt offering.
  • #* Bible, 1 Kings ii. 28
  • Joab caught hold on the horns of the altar
  • (countable) Any of several musical wind instruments.
  • (countable) An instrument resembling a musical horn and used to signal others.
    • hunting horn
  • (countable) A loud alarm, especially one on a motor vehicle.
  • (countable) A conical device used to direct waves.
    • antenna horn
    loudspeaker horn
  • (informal, countable) Generally, any brass wind instrument.
  • (slang, countable, from the horn-shaped earpieces of old communication systems that used air tubes) A telephone.
  • (uncountable, coarse, slang, definite article) An erection of the penis.
  • (countable) A peninsula or crescent-shaped tract of land. "to navigate around the horn ."
  • (countable) A diacritical mark that may be attached to the top right corner of the letters o' and '''u''' when writing in Vietnamese, thus forming '''?''' and ' ? .
  • (botany) An incurved, tapering and pointed appendage found in the flowers of the milkweed (Asclepias ).

    • Usage notes

    * When used alone to refer to an instrument, horn can mean either "hunting horn" or "French horn", depending on context. Other instruments are identified by specific adjectives such as "English horn" or "basset horn".

    Synonyms

    * (growth on the heads of certain animals) * (hard substance from which horns are made) keratin * (any of several musical wind instruments) * (instrument used to signal others) * hooter, klaxon * (conical device used to direct waves) funnel * * blower (UK''), dog and bone (''Cockney rhyming slang ), phone * boner (US ), hard-on, stiffy

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (of an animal) To assault with the s
  • (slang, obsolete) To cuckold

    • Derived terms

    * blowhorn * bullhorn * French horn * have the horn * horned * horn in * hornist * horn of plenty * hornless * hornworm * hornwort * horny * lock horns * pull in one's horns * shoehorn * take the bull by the horns * toot one's own horn ----

    dorn

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A British ray; the thornback.
    • (Webster 1913) ----