GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English
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Found 2 definitions
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Thorn (?), n. [AS. þorn; akin to OS. & OFries. thorn, D. doorn, G. dorn, Dan. torn, Sw. törne, Icel. þorn, Goth. þaúrnus; cf. Pol. tarn, Russ. tern' the blackthorn, ternie thorns, Skr. tṛṇa grass, blade of grass. √53.]
1. A hard and sharp-pointed projection from a woody stem; usually, a branch so transformed; a spine.
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2. (Bot.) Any shrub or small tree which bears thorns; especially, any species of the genus Crataegus, as the hawthorn, whitethorn, cockspur thorn.
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3. Fig.: That which pricks or annoys as a thorn; anything troublesome; trouble; care.
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There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me. 2 Cor. xii. 7.
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The guilt of empire, all its thorns and cares,
Be only mine. Southern.
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4. The name of the Anglo-Saxon letter , capital form . It was used to represent both of the sounds of English th, as in thin, then. So called because it was the initial letter of thorn, a spine.
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Thorn apple (Bot.), Jamestown weed. -- Thorn broom (Bot.), a shrub that produces thorns. -- Thorn hedge, a hedge of thorn-bearing trees or bushes. -- Thorn devil. (Zool.) See Moloch, 2. -- Thorn hopper (Zool.), a tree hopper (Thelia crataegi) which lives on the thorn bush, apple tree, and allied trees.
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Thorn, v. t. To prick, as with a thorn. [Poetic]
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I am the only rose of all the stock
That never thorn'd him. Tennyson.
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