Dictionary

horner en · NOUN

Etymology

From Middle English horner, hornere, equivalent to horn + -er.

Meanings

1. Someone who works or deals in (animal) horn or horns.
   • As also all patents for new inventions not put in practice within three years, likewise the several grants of incorporation to hatband makers, gutstring makers, spectacle makers, comb makers, tobacco-pipe makers, butchers, and horners. 1873, Calendar of State Papers:
   • The skin of any Bulls Forehead, either for its toughness, or other cause, is the only part of the Hyde made use of by Horners, whereupon they shave their Hornes […]to fit them for Lamphorns 1681, Nehemiah Grew, Musæum Regalis Societatis. Or A Catalogue & Description of the Natural and Artificial Rarities Belonging to the Royal Society and Preserved at Gresham Colledge. […], London: […] W. Rawlins, for the author, →OCLC:
2. (obsolete) Someone who blows a horn (for communication or musical purposes); a hornblower.
3. (obsolete) Someone who cuckolds.
   • Sir, from the party, / The lady you should truck with, the lord's wife / Your worship is to dub, or to make free / Of the company of the horners. 1624, Philip Massinger, “The Parliament of Love”, in William Gifford, editor, The Plays of Philip Massinger, published 1845, act 4, scene 3, page 164:
4. The British sand lance or sand eel, Hyperoplus lanceolatus.
5. Someone from the Horn of Africa.

Forms