put horns on en · VERB
Etymology
Compare Russian наста́вить рога́ (nastávitʹ rogá), Spanish poner los cuernos.
Meanings
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(transitive) To cuckold, to be unfaithful to or make someone’s partner so.
City Comedies depicted the pursuit of wealth, status, and women in Jacobean London. In a typical plot, a ne'er-do-well young gentleman dupes his older relatives out of money, while lower-class rascals play cruder tricks on respectable citizens. For example, in Thomas Middleton's A Mad World, My Masters, Follywit, the Gallant, repeatedly robs his uncle by preying on the old man's hospitality and pride. Meanwhile the wife of a "citizen" (an urban dweller with the city's rights and privileges) and her would-be seducer arrange to put horns on her jealous husband, and a prostitute and her mother (who is also her pimp, a typical manifestation of the genre's cynical attitude toward kinship) contrive to catch Follywit to be the girl's husband. All schemes succeed.
1983, Wendy Griswold, “The Devil's Techniques: Cultural Legitimation and Social Change”, in American Sociological Review, volume 48, number 5, page 672 of 668–680:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| put horns upon | alternative | lexicographic | |
| put horns on | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| put horns on | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| puts horns on | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| put the horns on | alternative | lexicographic | |
| putting horns on | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic |
Translations (17)
fi tehdä aisankannattaja (To cuckold) · fr cocufier (To cuckold) · pl przyprawiać rogi (To cuckold) · it cornificare (To cuckold) · el φοράω κέρατα (To cuckold) · ru наста́вить рога́ (To cuckold) · tr boynuzlamak (To cuckold) · ka რქების დადგმა (To cuckold) · gl poñer os cornos (To cuckold) · de Hörner aufsetzen (To cuckold) · de die Hörner aufsetzen (To cuckold) · el κερατώνω (To cuckold) · el βάζω κέρατα (To cuckold) · fi olla uskoton (To cuckold) · es poner los cuernos (To cuckold) · pl przyprawić rogi (To cuckold) · it mettere le corna (To cuckold)