▪ I. hern, hirn, n. Chiefly Sc. (in form hirn, hyrn) or dial. after 1500.
(hɜːn)
Forms: 1–6, 9 dial. hyrne, 3–5 (also 9 dial.) hurne, herne, 3–6 hirne, (3 huyrne, 4 huir(e)ne, heorne, 5 hierne, hyerne, heerne, h(e)yron, heryn), 5–6 hyrn, 5–8 hirn.
[OE. hyrne wk. fem. = OFris. herne, ON. hyrna (Da. hjörne) corner, angle, nook:—OTeut. *hurnjôn-, f. stem of horn n.]
A corner, nook, hiding-place.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. xxii. 168 Ahoh hie..on ða feower hyrnan ðære earce. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. vi. 5 Standende on ᵹe-somnungum and stræta hyrnum. c 1200 Ormin 1677 Icc seȝȝde þatt itt [þatt waȝherifft] wass Þær henngedd i þatt hirne. c 1290 Beket 691 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 126 Þo i-saiȝ he þis holi man In one huyrne [v.r. hurne] stonde. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7343 Þat he ne ssolde abbe..an herne to wite him Inne. a 1340 Hampole Psalter cxvii. 21 Þe stane þat þe edifiand reprouyd here it is made in heuyd of hyrne. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. ii. 209 And alle fledden for fere and flowen in-to huirnes [C. iii. 249 hernes]. c 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. 105 Lurkynge in hernes [v.r. hirnes] and in lanes blynde. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 9 Laborintus, Dedalus hous, haþ many halkes and hurnes. c 1400 Destr. Troy 8390 In foure hyernes of the house. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. l. 3577 Þe sexsten..sey hem in an hyron. Ibid. l. 3986 Stondyng in an heyron þere. c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun 2101 My teching was noght in hirnes nor pryuitie. c 1485 E.E. Misc. (Warton Club) 43 Ever I rene fro herne to herne. 1513 Douglas æneis iii. iv. 8 Out of the quiet hyrnis the rowt wpstartis Of thai birdis. 1590 R. Bruce Serm. Sacram. (1843) 109 The maist secret hirne of the conscience. c 1640 J. Smyth Lives Berkeleys (1883) I. 33 The barrony..with all the hernesse, that is the Nookes and Corners thereof. 1776 C. Keith Farmer's Ha in Chambers Pop. Hum. Scot. Poems (1862) 32 To ilka hirn he taks his route. 1895 E. Anglian Gloss., Hyrne, a corner, the portion of the village situated in an angle or corner. |
b. Comb. † hirn-stone, corner-stone.
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. (Th.) I. 106 He is se hyrn-stan þe ᵹefeᵹð þa tweᵹen weallas togædere. c 1200 Ormin 13358 Crist iss ec þatt hirnestan Þatt bindeþþ tweȝȝenn waȝhess. |
▪ II. hern, herne
arch. and dial. forms of heron (q.v.), frequent in literary use.
▪ III. hern
obs. pl. of ear n.1
| a 1300 Cursor M. 8080 Lang and side þair brues wern, And hinged all a-bout þair hern [v.rr. eres, ern, eren]. |
▪ IV. hern, poss. pron.1 Obs. exc. south and midl. dial.
Also 4 hiren, 5 huron.
[f. her poss. pron.1, apparently by form-association with the ME. pairs mī, mīn, thī, thīn (where the derivative form arose not by adding, but by dropping n). Cf. hisn, ourn, yourn, theirn.]
= hers.
| 1340 Ayenb. 111 Yblissed by þe guode wyfman þet of hiren þet flour þer to dede. c 1340 Cursor M. 20016 (Trin.) Þouȝe I be vnworþi mon, Hiren am I al þat I kon. 1388 Wyclif 2 Kings viii. 6 Restore thou to hir alle thingis þat ben hern [1382 hyres]. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. l. 2628 Alle his clothus and huron weron wete also. 1599 Chapman Hum. Day's Mirth Dram. Wks. 1873 I. 98 What shall I do at the sight of her and hern? a 1845 Hood Huggins & Duggins, How often I should stand and turn, To get a pat from hands like hern. 1876 Besant & Rice Gold. Butterfly xvi. 135 It won't fall on his head, but on hern. |
▪ V. † hern, poss. pron.2 Obs.
Forms: 4 heoren, heren, hiren, 5 hern.
[f. her poss. pron.2; formed as prec.]
= theirs.
| c 1340 Ayenb. 38 Hi..beþencheþ hou hi moȝe habbe of hiren. 13.. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. xxxii. 1145–9 Heoren is þe Ioye euerlastonde..‘Blesset beo þe pore in spirit ay, ffor heoren is þe kyndom Þer as dwelleþ God and Mon’. c 1340 Cursor M. 6155 (Trin.) Lafte þei not þat heren was Sheepe ne cow ox ne as. c 1449 Pecock Repr. v. i. 479 The vnwisdom of hem schal be knowe to alle men, as hern was. |