hartshorn
(ˈhɑːtshɔːn)
[f. hart's (possessive of hart) + horn.]
1. The horn or antler of a hart; the substance obtained by rasping, slicing, or calcining the horns of harts, formerly the chief source of ammonia.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 234 Wiþ heafod sare, heortes hornes axan fif peneᵹa ᵹewæᵹe drinc. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 937 Brent hertis horn. 1578 Lyte Dodoens iv. lxxx. 544 Putting thereto Hartes horne burnt and washed. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 335 So of the suffitus of a torch, doe Painters make a velvet blacke..so of burnt Harts horn a sable. 1655 Marquis of Worcester Cent. Inv. §83 A Rasping-Mill for Harts-horn. 1718 Quincy Compl. Disp. 8 The Spirit of Animals, as what is procur'd from Hartshorn. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 264 Calcin'd Hartshorn. 1796 H. Glasse Cookery xxi. 334 The shavings of hartshorn. |
2. spirit of hartshorn, also simply
hartshorn: the aqueous solution of ammonia (whether obtained from harts' horns or otherwise).
salt of hartshorn: carbonate of ammonia; smelling salts.
| 1685 Boyle Salub. Air 109 A colourless Liquor, namely Spirit of Hartshorn or of Sal-armoniac. a 1698 Temple Gout (R.), The Count..gave me a receipt of the salt of hartshorn, by which a famous Italian physician..had performed mighty cures. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 23 ¶2 Down she fell..Hartshorn! Betty, Susan, Alice, throw Water in her Face. 1807 T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 6 Ammonia..was known by the name of volatile alkali; it was also called hartshorn, because..obtained by distilling the horn of the hart. 1875 H. C. Wood Therap. (1879) 557 In the use of hartshorn..it is necessary to exercise care, lest injury should be done to the delicate mucous membrane. |
† 3. Applied to two plants having leaves branched like a stag's horn:
a. Buck's-horn Plantain,
Plantago Coronopus (also
hartshorn plantain);
b. Swine's Cress,
Senebiera Coronopus.
Obs.| 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. lxiv. 93 The first Crowfoote or Hartshorne..bringeth forth vpon each side of the leafe three or foure shorte startes or branches, almost like to the branches of a Hartes horne. Ibid. 95 We may also call it Hartes horne Plantayne, Buckehorne Plantayne. 1656 Culpepper Eng. Phys. Enl., Bucks-horn, it is also called Harts-horn..the Vertues are held to be the same of Bucks⁓horn plantane. 1674 N. Cox Gentl. Recreat. (1677) 142 Juice of an Herb called Harts-horn. 1866 Treas. Bot., Hart'shorn, Plantago Coronopus. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as
hartshorn drops,
hartshorn-rasper,
hartshorn shavings,
hartshorn tea;
† hartshorn beetle, the stag-beetle;
hartshorn jelly, a nutritive jelly made formerly from the shavings of harts' horns, now from those of calves' bones;
hartshorn plantain (see 3).
| 1658 Rowland Moufet's Theat. Ins. 1005 The πλατύκερως, or *Harts horn Beetle is called Lucanus by Nigidius. |
| 1706–7 Farquhar Beaux Strat. iv. i, Here, here, let's see the *Hartshorn-drops. 1813 J. Thomson Lect. Inflam. 641 Hartshorn drops, and such-like stimulating fluids. |
| 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 210 To make *Hartshorn Jelly. 1883–4 Cassell's Dict. Cookery 308 Hartshorn Jelly—Boil half a pound of hartshorn shavings in four pints of water for three hours. |
| 1725 Lond. Gaz. No. 6382/11 Richard Sill..*Harthorn-Rasper. |
| 1747 Wesley Prim. Physic (1762) 48 Two ounces of *Hartshorn shavings. |
| a 1762 Lady M. W. Montagu Song to Lady Irwin i. Lett., etc. 1887 II. 511 'Tis too soon for *hartshorn tea. |