Horn, verb (colloquial).—To cuckold. [Becco (= a he-goat) and cornuto
(= a horned thing) are good Italian for a cuckold; in Florio (Worlde of
Wordes, 1598) andar in cornouaglia senza barca (i.e., to go to Cornwall
without a ship) = to win the horn; and the expression, as the example
from Lydgate appears to show, may very well have been imported into
English from the Italian. Also, it seems to have begun to be literary
about the middle of the sixteenth century, when the Italian influence
was at its height. For the rest it passed in triumph into written
English, was used in every possible combination, had a run at least two
centuries long, and is still intelligible, though not in common
service.] See Actæon, antlers, bull’s feather, freeman of bucks, etc.
Hence, to hornify (see subs., sense 3), and to graft (or give)
horns; to wear horns = to live a cuckold; horner, subs. = a cuckold
maker; horn-mad, adj. phr. (q.v.); horned, adj. = cuckolded;
horn-grower (or merchant) subs. = a married man; horn-fever, subs.
= cuckoldry; to exalt one’s horn, verb. phr. = (1) to cuckold, and
(2) to rejoice in, or profit by, the condition; to wind the horn =
to publish the fact of cuckoldom; horns-to-sell, subs. phr. = (1) a
lewd wife, and (2) a wittol; to point the horn = to fork the
fingers in derision (as in Hogarth’s ‘Industrious and Idle
Apprentice,’ 1790, plate v.); horn-works = the process of
cuckolding; at the sign of the horn = in cuckoldom; horn-pipe =
(see quot. 1602); horned herd, subs. phr. = husbands in general
(specifically, the city men, the Citizens of London, the cuckolding
of whom by West-end gallants is a constant theme of seventeenth
century jokes); gilt-horn, subs. = a contented Cuckold; spirit of
hartshorn = the suspicion or the certainty of cuckoldom; long
horns, subs. = a notorious cuckold; knight of Hornsey, also member
for Horncastle, subs. phr. = a cuckold, etc.
d. 1440. Lydgate, Falle of Prynces, ii., leaf 56 (ed. Wayland,
1557, quoted in Dyce’s Skelton, 1843, ii., 132). To speke plaine
Englishe made him cokolde. Alas I was not auised wel before
Vnkonnyngly to speake such language: I should haue sayde how that
he had an horne.... And in some land Cornodo men do them call, And
some affirme that such folk have no gall.
c. 152(?). Hick Scorner (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, i.,
180). My mother was a lady of the stews, blood born, And (Knight of
the Halter) my father wore an horne.
c. 1537. Thersites (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, i., 412).
Why wilt thou not thy hornes inhold? Thinkest thou that I am a
cuckold.
c. 1550. The Pride and Abuse of Women (176 in Early Pop. Poetry,
ed. Hazlitt, iv., 237). And loke well, ye men to your wives.... Or
some wyll not styche.... To horne you on everye side.
1568. Bannatyne MSS. ‘The use of Court,’ p. 765 (Hunterian Club,
1886). Vp gettis hir wame, Scho thinkis no schame For to bring hame
The laird ane horne.
1574. Appius and Virginia (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iv.,
118). A hairbrain, a hangman, or a grafter of hornes.
1575. Laneham’s Letter (ed. 1871). p. 40. With yoor paciens,
Gentlmen, ... be it said: wear it not in deede that hornz bee so
plentie, hornware I beleeue woold bee more set by than it iz, and
yet thear in our parts, that wyll not stick too auoow that many an
honest man both in citee and cuntree hath his hoous bv horning well
vphollden, and a daily freend allso at need.
c. 1580. Collier of Croydon (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875,
viii., 436). My head groweth hard, my horns will shortly spring.
1586. Lupton, 1,000 Not. Things, ed. 1675, p. 261. Take heed thou
art not horn’d, and then fetcht home.
1597. Hall, Satires, i., 8. Fond wittol that would’st load thy
witless head, With timely horns before thy bridal bed. Idem, ii.,
7. If chance it come to wanton Capricorne, And so into the Ram’s
disgraceful horne.
1598. Shakspeare, 2 Henry IV., Act i., sc. 2. Well, he hath the
horn of abundance and the lightness of his wife shines through it.
1598. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, v., 1. See, what a drove of
horns fly in the air, Winged with my cleansèd and my credulous
breath.
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, ed. 1641, v., 41. The adulterous
Sargus.... Courting the Shee Goates on the grassie shore Would horn
their husbands that had horns before.
1599. Jonson, Every Man Out of his Humour, iv., 4. Now horn upon
horn pursue thee, thou blind, egregious, dotard.
1600. Look About You, Sc. 10 (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875,
v., 415). By adding horns unto our falcon’s head.
1600. Shakspeare, As You Like it, iv., 2. Take thou no scorn to
wear the horn, It was a crest ere thou wast born.
1600. Shakspeare, Much Ado about Nothing, i. Then up comes the
devil with his horns upon his head, looking like an old cuckold.
Ibid. v. 1. But when shall we see the savage bull’s horns on the
sensible Benedict’s head.
1601. Jonson, Poetaster, iv., 3. And there is never a star in thy
forehead but shall be a horn if thou dost persist to abuse me.
1602. Campion, English Poesy (Bullen, Works, 1889, p. 248). Mock
him not with horns, the case is altered.
1603. Philotus (Pinkerton, Scottish Poems, 1792, iii., 17). Sen
thair may be na uther buit? Plat on his heid ane horne.
1604. Marston, Malcontent, i., I. Mendoza is the man makes thee a
horned beast: ’tis Mendoza cornutes thee.
1605. Jonson, Volpone, ii., 4. Volp.: Nay, then, I not repent me of
my late disguise. Mos.: If you can horne him, Sir, you need not.
1605. Chapman, All Fools, v., 1 (Plays, 1874, p. 75). And will you
blow the horn yourself where you may keep it to yourself? Go to,
you are a fool. Ibid. (p. 76.) It may very well be that the devil
brought horns into the world, but the women brought them to the
men.
1607. How a Man May Choose a Good Wife From a Bad, ii., I.
(Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 28). Quando venis aput, I
shall have two horns on my caput.
1607. Dekker, Northward Hoe, Act i., p. 8. If a man be deuorst,
whether may he haue an action or no, gainst those that make horns
at him. Ibid. iv., p. 54. This curse is on all letchers throwne,
They give horns and, at last, hornes are their owne.
1608. Rowlands, Humor’s Looking Glass, p. 22. Besides, shee is as
perfect chast as faire. But being married to a jealous asse, He
vowes shee horns him.
1609. Jonson, Epicœne, iii., 1. By that light you deserve to be
grafted, and your horns reach from one side of the island to the
other.
1616. Jonson, Devil’s an Ass, v., 5. And a cuckold is, Wherever he
puts his head, with a wannion, his horns be forth, the devil’s
companion.
1618. Samuel Rowlands, The Night Raven, p. 25. ’Tis this bad liver
doth the horne-plague breed, Which day and night my jealous
thoughts doth feed.
1623. Cockeran, Eng. Dict. s.v. Sargus, an adulterous fish which
goes on the grassie shore, and hornes the hee Goates that had horns
before.
1627. Drayton, Agincourt and Other Poems, p. 174. Some made mouthes
at him, others as in scorne With their forkt fingers poynted him
the horn.
1629. Davenant, Albovine, ed. 1673, p. 436. ’Twas a subtle reach to
tell him that the King had horn’d his brow.
1633. Rowley, Match at Midnight (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875,
xiii., 40). horning the headman of his parish and taking money for
his pains.
1633. Ford, Love’s Sacrifice, iii., 3. Fernando is your rival, has
stolen your duchess’s heart, murther’d friendship; horns your head,
and laughs at your horns.
1637. Beaumont and Fletcher, Elder Brother, iv., 4. I shall have
some music yet At my making free o’ th’ company of horners.
1640. Rawlins, The Rebellion, i., I. (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed.,
1875, xiv., 15). Fresh as a city bridegroom that has signed his
wife a grant for the grafting of horns.
1643. Brome, A New Diurnal. (Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 1810, vi., 667).
Prince Rupert, for fear that his name be confounded, Will saw off
his horns, and make him a Roundhead.
1647. Beaumont and Fletcher, Women Pleased, v. 3. I shall then be
full of scorn, Wanton, proud (beware the horn).
1653. Middleton and Rowley, The Spanish Gypsy, iii., I. Beggars
would on cock-horse ride. And boobies fall a-roaring, And cuckolds
though no horns be spied, Be one another goring.
1653. Davenant, The Siege of Rhodes, p. 34. It stuffs up the
marriage bed with thorns, It gores itself, it gores itself with
imagined horns.
1657. Middleton, Women, Beware of Woman (1657), iii., 2. Cuckolds
dance the hornpipe, and farmers dance the hay. Idem., iv., 2. Go,
lie down, master; but take care your horns do not make holes in the
pillow-beers.
1659. Lady Alimony, i., 2 (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv.,
280). My scene, Trillo, is horn alley. Ibid., iii., 6 (p. 340).
Doubt nothing, my fellow Knights of hornsey.
1661. Webster, Cure for a Cuckold (1661), v., 2. He that hath horns
thus let him learn to shed.
1663. Killigrew, The Parson’s Wedding, iv., 1 (Dodsley, Old Plays,
4th ed., 1875, xiv., 473). I hope to exalt the Parson’s horn here.
Ibid., (p. 477). Only to fright the poor cuckholds and make the
fools visit their horns. Ibid., v., 4 (p. 519). Methinks my horns
ache more than my corns. Ibid. ib. (p. 520). I have seen a cuckold
of your complexion: if he had lent as much hoof as horn, you might
have hunted the beast by the slot.
1664. Butler, Hudibras, II., ii. For when men by their wives are
cowed, Their horns of course are understood.
1668. L’Estrange, Visions of Quevedo, p. 251 (ed. 1708). He that
marries, ventures fair for the horn, either before or after.
1672. Ray, Proverbs (in Bohn, 1889), s.v. He had better put his
horns in his pocket than wind them. Idem. (p. 184). Horns and gray
hairs do not come with years. Idem. id., Who hath horns in his
pocket let him not put them on his head.
1675. Wycherley, Country Wife, v., 4. Epilogue: Encouraged by our
woman’s man to-day, a horner’s part may vainly think to play.
Ibid., i., 1. I make no more cuckolds, sir. [Makes horns.] Ibid.,
iv., 3. If ever you suffer your wife to trouble me again here, she
shall carry you home a pair of horns.
1677. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, iv., 1. First, the clandestine
obscenity in the very name of horner.
d. 1680. Butler, Remains (1757), ii., 372. His own branches, his
horns, are as mystical as the Whore of Babylon’s Palfreys, not to
be seen but in a vision.
1693. Congreve, Old Bachelor, iv., 15. Pox choke him. Would his
horns were in his throat.
1695. Congreve, Love for Love, iv., 15. The clocks will strike
twelve at noon, and the horned herd buzz in the Exchange at two.
1698. Farquhar, Love and a Bottle, iv., 3. Should I ever be tried
before this judge, how I should laugh to see how gravely his goose
cap sits upon a pair of horns!
1700. Congreve, Way of the World, iii., 7. Man should have his head
and horns, and woman the rest of him.
1702. Steele, The Funeral or Grief à la Mode, Act. i., p. 22. This
wench I know has played me false, and horned me in my gallants.
[Note.—That the speaker is a female shows the word to have been
transferable to the other sex.]
1708. W. King, Art of Love, pt. x. (Chalmers, English Poets, 1810,
ix., 274). Sometimes his dirty paws she scorns, While her fair
fingers show his horns.
1708. Prior, Poems. ‘The Turtle and Sparrow,’ line 302–9. ‘Two
staring Horns,’ I often said, ‘but ill became a sparrow’s head’ ...
‘Whilst at the root your horns are sore, The more you scratch, they
ache the more.’
1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 174. Who’s the Cuckoo, Who’s the
Cuckold, who’s the horner?
1728. Patrick Walker, Alexander Peden, ‘Postscript’ (ed. 1827, i.).
A profane, obscene meeting called the horn-order.
1737. Fielding, Tumble-Down Dick, Works (1718) iii., 408. Think it
enough your betters do the deed, And that by horning you I mend the
breed.
d. 1742. Somerville, Occasional Poems (Chalmers, English Poets,
1810, xi., 238). If I but catch her in a corner, Humph! ’tis your
servant, Colonel Horner.
1759–67. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, ch. xxxvii. Nor have the
horn-works he speaks of anything to do with the horn-works of
Cuckoldom.
1765. C. Smart, Fables, xi., line 66. And though your spouse my
lecture scorns. Beware his fate, beware his Horns.
d. 1770. Chatterton, The Revenge, i., I. Let her do what she will,
The husband is still, And but for his horns you would think him an
ass. Idem., ii., 4. Have you come horning.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1786. Captain Morris (Collection of Songs), The Great
Plenipotentiary, (9th ed. 1788, stanza ix., p. 43). She had horned
the dull brows of her worshipful spouse Till they sprouted like
Venus’s myrtle.
d. 1796. Burns, Merry Muses, ‘Cuddy the Cooper,’ p. 84. On ilka
brow she’s planted a horn, An’ swears that there they shall stan’,
O.
1813. Moore, Poems, ‘Re-inforcements for the Duke,’ iii., 209. Old
H——df——t at horn-works again might be tried.
1816. Quiz, Grand Master, canto vii., p. 199, line 10. (She)
smil’d, declaring that she scorn’d him, (She might have added that
she’d horn’d him).
1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, c. xxxvi. O what a generous
creature is your true London husband! Horns hath he, but, tame as a
fatted ox, he goreth not.
1825. Scott, The Betrothed, ch. xvii. I ever tell thee, husband,
the horns would be worth the hide in a fair market.
To draw in one’s horns, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To withdraw or to
retract; to cool down.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Horns.
To horn off, verb. phr. (American). = To put on one side; to shunt. [As
a bull or stag with his horns.]
1851. Hooper, Widow Rugby’s Husband, etc., p. 69. You horned me off
to get a chance to get gaming witnesses out of the way.
In a horn, adv. phr. (American).—A general qualification, implying
refusal or disbelief; over the left (q.v.).
1858. Washington Evening Star, 26 Aug. I have mentioned before the
innumerable comforts—in a horn—of the old White Sulphur Springs.
To wind (or blow) the horn, verb. phr. (old).—To break wind; to fart
(q.v.).
1620. Percy, Folio, MSS., ‘Fryar and Boye.’ Her tayle shall wind
the horne.
To cure the horn, verb. phr. (venery).—To copulate. See Horn, subs.,
sense 3. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.
To have the horn, verb. phr. (venery). See Horn, subs., sense 3.
To come out of the little end of the horn, verb. phr. (common).—To get
the worst of a bargain; to be reduced in circumstances. Also, to make
much ado about nothing. Said generally of vast endeavour ending in
failure. [Through some unexpected Squeeze (q.v.)].
1605. Jonson, Chapman, and Marston, Eastward Hoe, i., 1. I had the
horne of suretiship ever before my eyes. You all know the devise of
the horne, where the young fellow slippes in at the butte-end, and
comes squesd out at the buckall.
1624. Fletcher, Wife for a Month, iii., 3. Thou wilt look to-morrow
else Worse than the prodigal fool the ballad speaks of, That was
squeezed through a horn.
1847. Porter, Big Ben, etc., p. 37. How did you make it? You didn’t
come out at the little end of the horn, did you?
1847. Porter, Quarter Race, etc., p. 24. You never saw such a run
of luck; everywhere I touched was pizen, and I came out of the
leetle end of the horn.
1891. Pall Mall Gaz., 3 July, i., 2. The ‘great Trek,’ in that
expressive transatlantic phrase, has toddled out of the little end
of the horn.
Horn-colic, subs. (venery).—See Horn, subs., sense 3.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Hornet, subs. (common).—A disagreeable, cantankerous person.
Hornie (or Horness), subs. (old).—1. A constable or watchman; a
sheriff.
1819. Vaux, Life, s.v. Horney, a Constable.
1821. Haggart, Life, 51. The woman missing it immediately, she sent
for the hornies.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Horness.