buck-horn
(ˈbʌkhɔːrn)
Also buck's horn.
[f. buck n.1 + horn.]
† 1. a. The horn of a buck. b. The horn of a goat used for blowing a blast. Obs.
| 1447–8 J. Shillingford Lett. (1871) 36 Whiche bukhorn was presented to my lord on Candelmasse day. 1548 Compl. Scot. (1801) 65 Hudit hirdis blauuand ther buc hornis. |
2. The material of a buck's horn; also attrib. made of, or hard as buck's horn, horny.
| 1613 W. Browne Brit. Past. i. §5 The swarty Smith spits in his buckhorne fist. 1820 Scott Monast. xix, A large knife hilted with buck-horn. 1881 Macm. Mag. XLIV. 473/1 Jacket with a..green collar, and buckshorn buttons. |
3. From its hardness: Dried whiting or other fish. (Cf. early mod.Du. bokshoren.)
| 1602 Carew Cornwall 35 a, Dried, as Buckhorne made of whitings. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Merlan, A dryed Whiting; the fish which we call Buckhorne. 1655 Mouffet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 262 Stock-fish, whilst it is unbeaten, is called Buckhorn. 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 398 Thus prepared, they..are called buckhorn. |
4. In full buck-horn sight: a branched form of sight of a rifle or sporting gun. U.S.
| 1877 R. I. Dodge Hunting Grounds Gt. West vii. 105 The very best sight, and the one almost universally in use by sportsmen and professional hunters on the plains, is the plain ‘buckhorn’. Ibid., Sportsmen who use the ‘buck-horn’ must learn to sight ‘on the barrel’. 1901 S. E. White Westerners xi. 78 He had viewed..the scout through the buck-horn sights of his long rifle. |