▪ I. thorn, n.
(θɔːn)
Forms: 1–3 ðorn, 1–5 þorn, (2 þeorn, 3 (Orm.) þorrn, 4 thorun), 4–5 þorne, 4–8 thorne, 4– thorn.
[OE. þorn = OS. thorn (Du. doorn), OHG. dorn (MHG., G. dorn), ON. þorn (Sw., Da. torn), Goth. þaurnus,:—OTeut. *þurn-uz;:—Indo-Eur. *trnus: cf. OSlav. trŭnŭ thorn.]
I. 1. A stiff, sharp-pointed, straight or curved woody process on the stem or other part of a plant; a spine, a prickle.
| a 800 Cynewulf Crist 1445 Þa hi hwæsne beaᵹ ymb min heafod heardne ᵹebyᵹdon..se wæs of þornum ᵹeworht. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xxvii. 29 Ða cempo..ymbworhton ða beᵹe of ðornum, ᵹesetton ofer heafud his. c 1000 ælfric's Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 139/21 Spina, þorn. Ibid. 139/22 Tribulus, þorn. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 207 He hadde..þornene helm, and þe þornes swiðe prikeden. a 1300 Cursor M. 17136 (Cott.) Þe thornnes o mi hede standes. Ibid. 17774 (Cott.) Wit thorns crund als was he. 1382 Wyclif Prov. xxvi. 9 If a thorun [1388 thorn] be growen in the hond of the drunken. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 166 Of woundis of þornis. 1484 Caxton Fables of æsop iii. i, As he ranne, a thorne entred into his foote. 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 175 Like one lost in a Thornie Wood, That rents the Thornes, and is rent with the Thornes. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 256 Flours of all hue, and without Thorn the Rose. 1671 Grew Anat. Plants iv. App. §1 Thorns are of two kinds, Lignous and Cortical. 1776 Withering Brit. Plants (1796) II. 104 Capsules..awl-shaped, scored, tapering and ending in a double thorn or awn. Ibid. 350 Fruit-stalks forming bunches: thorns 3 together. 1867 J. Hogg Microsc. ii. i. 324 Thorns, such as those of the rose, are aborted branches. 1880 Gray Struct. Bot. iii. §3 (ed. 6) 55 A Spine or Thorn is usually..the termination of a stem or branch, indurated, leafless, and attenuated to a point. Prov. There is no rose without a thorn. |
2. fig. (or in
fig. context): Anything that causes pain, grief, or trouble; in various metaphors, similes, and proverbial expressions, as
a thorn in the flesh or side, a constant affliction, a source of continual grief, trouble, or annoyance;
(to be, sit, stand, walk) on thorns (a thorn), (to be, etc.) in a painful state of anxiety or suspense.
| c 1230 Hali Meid. 9 Ha lickeð huni of þornes: ha buggen al þat swete wið twa dale of bittre. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 1055 (1104) Ye, Nece, wole ye pulle out þe þorn [v.r. thorne] That stiketh in his herte. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xii. 14 Welth, warldly gloir, and riche array, Ar all bot thornis laid in thy way. 1561 T. Hoby tr. Castiglione's Courtyer ii. (1900) 114 The poore gentilwoman stood upon thornes, and thought an houre a thousande yeare, till she were got from him. c 1580 J. Jeffere Bugbears iii. ii. in Archiv. Stud. Neu. Spr. (1897), I sytt all on thornes till that matter take effect. 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. v. 87 Those Thornes that in her bosome lodge. 1611 Bible Numbers xxxiii. 55 Those which ye let remaine of them, shall be..thornes in your sides. Ibid. 2 Cor. xii. 7 Least I should bee exalted aboue measure..there was giuen to me a thorne in the flesh [1526 Tind. vnquyetnes of, 1557 Gen. a pricke in the fleshe], the messenger of Sathan to buffet me. a 1698 Temple Hist. Eng. 93 No Prince ever came so early into the Cares and Thorns of a Crown. 1768 Earl Carlisle in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1843) II. 316, I should have been upon thorns till you had wrote. 1775 Sheridan Rivals v. i, Virtuous love..shall pluck the thorn from compunction. 1822 Galt Provost xlv, The perverse views..of that Yankee thorn-in-the-side, Mr. Hickery. 1853 Mrs. Gaskell Cranford vii. 100 Peggy wanted now to make several little confidences to her, which Miss Barker was on thorns to hear. 1864 Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. xii. (1875) 191 The Eastern Church was then, as she is to this day, a thorn in the side of the Papacy. 1886 C. E. Pascoe Lond. of To-day xxx. (ed. 3) 274 Not far from the grave of Elizabeth and Mary is that of the former's thorn in life, Mary of Scotland. 1913 D. H. Lawrence Sons & Lovers xiii. 379 He was on thorns to be gone from so trying a situation. 1923 ― Stud. in Classic Amer. Lit. ii. 21 Probably I haven't got over those Poor Richard tags yet. I rankle still with them. They are thorns in young flesh. 1924 E. M. Forster Passage to India iv. 34, I can be a thorn in Mr. Turton's flesh, and if he asks me I accept the invitation. 1929 J. Buchan Courts of Morning ii. iii. 187 You've given me a thorn to lie on, just when I was feeling comfortable. 1946 W. S. Maugham Then & Now xxxi. 187 The family that had been for so long a thorn in the flesh of the Vicars of Christ. 1977 E. Quinn tr. Kung & Lapide's Brother or Lord 36 Jesus was undoubtedly a thorn in the flesh for many Saducees. |
3. a. A spine or spiny process in an animal.
| c 1300– [implied in thornback 1]. c 1711–56 [implied in thorny 1 b]. 1860 [see thorn oyster in 8]. |
b. Histology. (See
quots.)
| 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 490 The dendrons are possessed of numerous minute lateral projections, gemmules, spines, or ‘thorns’ as they have been variously called. Ibid. VIII. 325 Dr. Alexander Hill believes the so-called ‘thorns’ to be organic structures, which are not shewn in their entirety by the chrome-silver method; and that a thorn is really the cell-end of an unstainable nerve filament, surrounded by a film of staining cell plasm. |
c. pl. In
Lace-making, Pointed projections used to decorate the cordonnet, etc., in point-lace.
| 1874 Queen Lace Bk. i. 18 Little loops, knots, or knobs..called Pearls, Thorns, or Picots. 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework, Thorns, used in Needlepoints to decorate the cordonnets and raised parts of the lace. See Spines. |
d. thorn needle = fibre needle s.v. fibre n. 8. (
Disused.)
| 1950 Vogue Aug. 98/2 Intellectuals often have an E.M.G. gramophone..and they play with thorns, not steels. 1973 Amateur Photographer 3 Jan. 33/2 A ‘thorn’ needle was composed of some soft woody or fibrous substance, which was ground to a point in a special machine. |
II. 4. a. A plant which bears thorns or prickles; a bramble or brier; a prickly bush, shrub, or tree; a thorn-tree or thorn-bush;
esp. any species of the genus
Cratægus; in England,
spec. the Hawthorn or White-thorn (
C. Oxyacantha).
In early
OE. þyrne wk. fem.:—
*þurnjōn.
| a 700– [implied in hawthorn]. c 725 Corpus Gloss. (O.E.T.) 1834 Sentes, ðornas. c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxiii, Swa hwa swa wille sawan westmabære land, atio ærest of ða þornas & þa fyrsas & {thbar} fearn & ealle þa weod. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xiii. 7 Oðro uutedlice ᵹefeollon in ðornum..& woxon ða ðornas..& underdulfon ða. c 1000 ælfric Gen. iii. 18 Þornas and bremelas heo asprit þe. 1045 Charter Edward in Kemble Cod. Dipl. IV. 98 On ðane greatan þorn ðe stynt wið Grimes dic. c 1200 Ormin 9219 Þurrh þorrness & þurrh breress Þær shulenn beon ridinngess nu. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1334 Faste in ðornes he saȝ a sep. 1382 Wyclif Judg. ix. 14 And alle the trees seiden to the thorn, Com, and comaund thow vpon us. c 1450 Godstow Reg. 34 Fowre burdyns of thornys of her wood of Cumnore. 1545 Brinklow Lament. (1874) 92 Do briers bringe forth figges, and thorns grapes? 1615 W. Lawson Orch. & Gard. (1623) Pref., Curious conceits..inoculating Roses on Thornes, and such like. 1750 Gray Elegy 116 Grav'd on the stone beneath yon aged thorn. 1800 Wordsw. Hart-leap Well 33 Dismounting, then, he leaned against a thorn. 1866 Treas. Bot. 344/2 The thorns [Cratægus] are natives of Europe, North America, and the temperate regions of Asia and Africa. 1882 Garden 24 June 449/1 Thorns, white, pink, and crimson..have been very beautiful. |
b. (
without article). Thorn bushes or branches collectively; also, the wood of a thorn-tree.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 924 (Cott.) Brembel and thorn it sal te yeild. Ibid. 16437 Þai crond him wit þorn. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 14 Sibriht,..Þat a suynhird slouh vnder a busk of thorn. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xii. 228 Þe pyes..þere þe þorne is thikkest..buylden and brede. 1508 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 15 Throw pykis of the plet thorne I presandlie luikit. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. iv. 26 It is too rough, Too rude, too boysterous, and it pricks like thorne. 1615 Chapman Odyss. xiv. 17 The inner part..Which with an hedge of Thorn he fenc't about. 1712 Pope Messiah 73 Sandy vallies once perplexed with thorn. Mod. Thorn is a hard wood, and makes good cudgels. |
c. fig. (or in figurative language). Sometimes alluding to the parable of the sower,
Matt. xiii. 7.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter xxxii. 12 Full of thornes & brers of synnes. 1735 Johnson Lobo's Abyssinia, Descr. i. 47 Little besides the Name of Christianity is to be found here, and the Thorns may be said to have choaked the Grain. 1819 Shelley Ode West Wind 54, I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed! 1850 W. Irving Goldsmith xxxvii. 358 The thorns which beset an author in the path of theatrical literature. |
5. With qualifying words used to distinguish species and varieties of
Cratægus, and to designate various other thorny plants: as
aronia, thorn,
Cratægus Aronia;
buffalo thorn,
Acacia latronum, an Indian tree;
Egyptian thorn,
Acacia vera, one of the trees which produce gum-arabic;
elephant thorn,
Acacia tomentosa (
Treas. Bot. 1866);
evergreen thorn,
Cratægus Pyracantha, an ornamental evergreen bearing a profusion of red berries in clusters during winter;
Jerusalem thorn,
Parkinsonia aculeata, a spiny shrub found in tropical regions;
Mysore thorn,
Cæsalpinia sepiaria, a leguminous plant;
Spanish hedgehog thorn, some species of the genus
Anthyllis. See also blackthorn, box-
t.,
buckthorn, camel's-
t., christ's
t.,
Glastonbury t., goat's-
t.,
hawthorn,
lily t., mouse-
t.,
orange t.,
purging t.,
sallow t., scorpion's
t., white-thorn.
| 1882 Garden 12 Aug. 145/3 The *Aronia Thorn..is a moderate-growing tree. |
| 1866 Treas. Bot., *Buffalo Thorn, Acacia latronum. |
| 1731 Miller Gard. Dict., Acacia, *Egyptian Thorn or Binding Bean Tree. 1860 Mayne Expos. Lex., Egyptian Thorn,..Acacia vera, the gum-arabic tree. |
| 1731 Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Mespilus, The Pyracantha or *Ever-green Thorn. |
| 1866 Treas. Bot. 847/2 P[arkinsonia] aculeata, called in Jamaica the *Jerusalem Thorn. |
| 1814 Roxburgh Hort. Bengal. 32 Cæsalpinia sepiaria, *Mysore Thorn. |
| 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 329 Thorn, *Spanish Hedgehog, Anthyllis. |
6. (Short for
thorn-moth.) Collectors' name for various geometrid moths.
Applied originally to species whose larvæ feed on the hawthorn or kindred plants.
| 1832 Rennie Conspectus Butterfl. & Moths 105 Geometra (Leach)... The September Thorn (G. erosaria). Ibid. 106 The Angled Thorn (G. angularia). 1869 Newman Brit. Moths 57 The September Thorn (Ennomos erosaria). |
III. 7. The name of the Old English and Icelandic runic letter
þ (
= th); named, like other runes, from the word of which it was the initial.
| c 1000 Runic Poem iii. (Gr.), Þorn byð þearle scearp. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xv. 71 Þ and ȝ, whilk er called þorn and ȝok. 1885 E. M. Thompson in Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 160/1 The English letter thorn, þ, survived and continued in use down to the 15th century. |
IV. 8. attrib. and
Comb. a. Attributive, as
thorn-acacia,
thorn avenue,
thorn-bed (
bed n. 8),
thorn-cover (
cover n.1 4),
thorn fence,
thorn-fire,
thorn forest,
thorn grove,
thorn-holt,
thorn jungle,
thorn kloof,
thorn-prick,
thorn-puncture,
thorn scrub,
thorn stick,
thorn-sting,
thorn thicket,
thorn-twig,
thorn woodland; objective, etc., as
thorn-bearer,
thorn-eater;
thorn-like,
thorn-proof (also as
n.,
sc. ‘material’),
thorn-resisting adjs.; instrumental, as
thorn-bound,
thorn-covered,
thorn-encompassed,
thorn-marked,
thorn-pricked,
thorn-set,
thorn-strewn,
thorn-wounded,
thorn-wreathed adjs. b. Special combs.:
† thorn-beak, the garfish,
Belone vulgaris;
thornberry, (the fruit of) the hawthorn;
thorn-bill, (
a) a humming-bird of the South American genus
Rhamphomicron; (
b) any of several small warblers of the genus
Acanthiza or a closely related genus, found in Australia, New Guinea, and New Zealand;
thorn-bird, a South American bird,
Anumbius acuticaudatus (allied to the
oven-bird), which builds a large domed nest of thorny twigs (Webster, 1890);
thorn-bit, ? a bit with a sharp projection which pricks the horse's mouth; also
fig.;
† thorn-broom, (
a) the petty whin,
Genista anglica; (
b) the common furze;
† thorn-but [
butt n.1], ?
= thorn-back 1;
thorn-catcher, a device attached to a bicycle or motor-car, to extract thorns and the like from the tire as the wheel rotates;
thorn-devil, name of an Australian lizard,
Moloch horridus;
= Moloch 2;
thorn-fly (also
hawthorn-fly,
thorn-tree fly), a kind of artificial fly;
† thorn-garth, an enclosure protected by a thorn-hedge;
† thorn-grape, the gooseberry;
thorn-head (Webster, 1890),
thorn-headed worm, one of the
Acanthocephala, intestinal parasitic worms having the proboscis furnished with hooks or spines;
† thorn-hog, a hedgehog;
thorn-hopper, a tree-hopper,
Thelia cratægi, which frequents thorny shrubs (
Cent. Dict. 1891);
thorn house, in salt-making by the graduation method, a structure in which weak brine is caused to trickle over piles or high walls of thorns and brushwood giving a large surface for evaporation;
thorn-letter, the runic letter þ:
= sense 7;
thorn-lizard = thorn-devil;
thorn-locust, the common honey-locust tree of N. America,
Gleditschia triacanthos;
thorn-moth = sense 6;
thorn-mussel, a pinna;
thorn oyster, popular name of bivalves of the family
Spondylidæ, in which the older specimens have the lower valve spiny; also
thorny oyster;
thorn-quick, a young thorn-plant for a hedge;
† thorn-rone, a brake or undergrowth of thorns;
thorn-shell, a spiny shellfish;
thorn-stone, a concretion deposited on the faggots in a
thorn house (see
quot. 1848);
thorn-swine, a porcupine (
Cent. Dict. 1891);
thorn-tail, popular name of the humming-birds of the South American genus
Gouldia, distinguished by a long pointed tail;
thorn-tailed a., having a tail resembling a thorn, or with thorn-like processes;
thorn-tailed agama, an agamoid lizard of the genus
Uromastix, having the tail cased with rings of spiny scales;
thornveld S. Afr., veld in which Acacias predominate;
thorn-wall, in salt-making:
cf. thorn house;
thorn-wood, (
a) a wood of thorns; (
b) (
thornwood) a South African tree (
perh. Acacia Natalitia, the South African Wattle); also
attrib. See also
thorn-apple,
thorn-bush, etc.
| 1570 Levins Manip. 207/6 A Hornbeak, fish... A *Thorn-beak. |
| 1894 G. Allen in Westm. Gaz. 8 May 2/1 They [nettles] make a practice of sheltering themselves under..stouter and taller *thorn-bearers. |
| 1844 Stephens Bk. Farm I. 374 The ditch is thus marked out ready for the formation of the *thorn-bed. |
| 1766 Ld. Fife Let. 30 Nov. in A. & H. Tayler Lord Fife & his Factor (1925) ii. 36 Tell Thos. Reid that his Information as to there being no *Thornberrys this season is wrong. 1886 Britten & Holland Dict. Eng. Plant-Names 467 Thornberries. Fruit of Cratægus Oxyacantha. 1934 E. Reynard Narrow Land v. 248 The Dover cliff was a thornberry scratch compared with what befell Cape Cod. |
| 1861 Gould Humming Birds III. Pl. 188 Ramphomicron Ruficeps—Red-capped *Thorn-Bill. 1870 Gillmore tr. Figuier's Rept. & Birds 471 The Thornbills..are American birds. 1911 J. A. Leach Austral. Bird Bk. 141 These birds..have been called *Thornbills by Mr. A. J. North. 1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 5 Apr. 27/1 The yellow-tailed thornbill constructs a double nest, the lower cavity..containing the eggs. 1964 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 17 Oct. 2/1 There is a species or more of Thornbill in every mainland State. 1975 I. Rowley Bird Life iii. 40 The real diminutives forage..by rapid and nearly continuous searching of ground or shrub layer as by wrens and thornbills. |
| 1886 Kipling Departm. Ditties, etc. (1899) 90 The colt who is wise will abstain from the terrible *thorn-bit of Marriage. |
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens vi. ix. 668 Genistilla, Furze or *thorne Broome groweth in vntoyled places. 1597 Gerarde Herbal iii. xviii. 1140 In English Furze, Furzen bushes, Whinne, Gorsse, and Thorne Broome. |
| 1668 Charleton Onomast. 149 Rhombus..Qui est vel Aculeatus, the *Thorn-but. 1736 Ainsworth Lat. Dict., The thornbut, Rhombus aculeatus. |
| 1901 Daily Chron. 1 June 8/7 A great many punctures can be nipped in the bud, so to speak, by employing *thorn-catchers. |
| 1850 R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. (1902) 158/2 We halted..beside several acres of *thorn-cover. |
| 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. v. Wks. 1738 I. 119 This obscure *thorn-eater of Malice and Detraction, as well as of Quodlibets and Sophisms. |
| 1843 Farmers' Cabinet 15 Jan. 184/1 Our fences are either the worm, post-and-rail, or *thorn. 1946 L. G. Green So Few are Free 226 Deep in the mountains they discovered a high thorn fence, obviously a man-made obstruction. |
| 1799 G. Smith Laboratory II. 310 *Thorn-fly. Dubbing of black lamb's wool [etc.]. |
| 1903 W. R. Fisher tr. Schimper's Plant-Geogr. i. iii. 260 The *Thorn-forest..is very rich in underwood. 1960 N. Polunin Introd. Plant Geogr. xiv. 442 Tropical thorn-forests..are usually still more xerophilous. |
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter lxxxviii. 39 Thou distroyd all his *thorne garthis. |
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens vi. xix. 681 Vua spina, whiche may be Englished, *Thorne grape. |
| 1886 Fagge & Pye-Smith Princ. Med. (ed. 2) II. 234 An acanthocephalous or *thornheaded worm, Echinorrhynchus sp., has only once been certainly discovered in the human intestine. |
| 1340 Ayenb. 66 Þe *þorn-hog þet ys al ywryȝe myd prikyinde eles. |
| c 1450 Godstow Reg. 208 Half a rode of lond, liyng in the *thorneholte in the feldes of halso. |
| 1866 Tomlinson's Cycl. II. 552/1 [At Moutiers] There are four evaporating houses called Maisons d'Epines or *thorn-houses. 1879 G. Gladstone in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 353/1 Thorn houses..are gigantic erections consisting of a skeleton of timber filled in with thorn bushes..the water trickles down over the ends of the twigs. |
| 1913 ‘Saki’ When William Came vi. 102 We have somewhere to go to..better than the scrub and the veldt and the *thorn-jungles. 1936 Discovery Nov. 337/1 The City of the Lake, buried deep in thorn jungle, through which we cut a path. |
| 1902 Skeat in Athenæum 22 Nov. 684/1 The words ‘that’ and ‘this’ and ‘the’ all begin, in the MS., with the usual *thorn-letter. |
| 1899 J. Cagney Jaksch's Clin. Diagn. viii. 413 The resulting cultivation is marked with..*thorn-like processes projecting from it. |
| 1860 Wraxall Life in Sea vi. 143 The great *Thorn-mussel (Pinna) of the Mediterranean. |
| Ibid. viii. 208 They [species of Spondyli] are distinguished by bright colours, but more especially by the long thorns and spurs with which they are covered, and for this reason they are also called *Thorn Oysters. |
| 1858 C. Rossetti Fr. House to Home 63, I felt no *thorn-prick when I plucked a flower. |
| 1565 Jewel Repl. Harding (1611) 417 That *Thorn-prickt, Nail-boared, Speare-pierced, and otherwise wounded, rent, and torne Bodie. |
| 1908 Daily Chron. 25 Apr. 9/5 A Beeston Humber bicycle, of roadster type, fully equipped with special *thorn-proof tyres and a metal gear-case. 1955 W. Gaddis Recognitions iii. iv. 846 Engulfed in the flow of a tartan lap robe and folds of Irish *thorn-proof, he stared fixedly at an open book. 1978 Birds Spring 3/2 (Advt.), Gamefair Jacket... In natural olive Beacon Thornproof. |
| 1755 Forfeited Estates Papers (S.H.S.) 92 [He] has raised.. since 1740 no less than 1,676,147 *Thorn Quicks. |
| a 1400 Sc. Trojan War ii. 2437 And has bot one small hole but dout In-to þat *thorn-rone, richt secre. |
| 1903 Kipling Five Nations 54 The thickets dwined to *thorn-scrub, and the water drained to shallows. 1974 R. Adams Shardik lviii. 496 This is a country of thorn-scrub and fine, blowing sand. |
| 1757 Dyer Fleece i. 115 Haughty trees..that weaken *thorn-set mounds. |
| 1860 Wraxall Life in Sea viii. 209 A wondrously beautiful *Thorn Shell. |
| 1857 Hughes Tom Brown i. ii, A stout *thorn stick in his hand. |
| 1848 Knapp's Chem. Technol. I. 266 The thorns become gradually covered with a thick coating (*thorn-stone), consisting of carbonates of lime, magnesia, manganese, and protoxide of iron. 1885 C. G. W. Lock Workshop Receipts Ser. iv. 153/1 [The fagots] have to be changed every 2 years or so, on account of a deposit of calcium carbonate (‘thornstone’) which coats them. |
| 1783 Latham Gen. Syn. Birds IV. 463 *Thorn-tailed Warbler... Inhabits Terra del Fuego. 1888 Cassell's Encycl. Dict. s.v. Uromastix, Thorn-tailed Agamas..from the south of Russia..and Central India. |
| 1895 G. B. Shaw Let. 31 Aug. (1965) I. 556, I lay there looking up peacefully at the moon through..the laced *thorntwigs of the briar. |
| 1878 A. Aylward Transvaal of To-Day xii. 246 Four young men, all Africanders, nearly lost their lives in the Speckboom *thornveld. 1936 L. Herrman in N. Isaacs Trav. & Adventures Eastern Afr. I. ii. 19 His ‘panthers’ are the small dark-skinned leopards of the thornveld. 1972 Palmer & Pitman Trees S. Afr. I. iii. 81 In the thornveld of Zululand, Acacia karoo, Acacia nilotica, Acacia caffra,..and Acacia tortilis subsp. heteracantha are frequent. |
| 1866 Tomlinson's Cycl. II. 554/1 The Saxon method of graduation by the use of *thorn-walls. |
| 1850 R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. (1902) 147/1 Reducing with adzes a *thornwood tree, which was to serve as a beam. 1863 W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting vi. 148 A beautiful country of dense thornwood. |
| 1903 W. R. Fisher tr. Schimper's Plant-Geogr. iii. iv. 492 *Thorn-woodland appears..on very permeable, dry, sandy soil. 1960 N. Polunin Introd. Plant Geogr. xiv. 442 Grasses are often lacking in the drier thorn-woodlands. |
| 1819 Shelley Prometh. Unb. i. 598 Let that *thorn-wounded brow Stream not with blood. |
▪ II. thorn, v. Now
rare.
(
θɔːn)
[f. prec. n.] 1. trans. To make thorny, to furnish with thorns;
esp. to protect (a newly planted quick-set hedge or the like) with dead thorn-bushes. Also
absol.| 1483 Cath. Angl. 384/1 To Thorne, dumare, spinare, dumere esse vel fieri, -escere. 1541 Nottingham Rec. III. 382 For thorns and for thornyng of wylo settes. 1579 Mem. St. Giles, Durham (Surtees) 1 Payde..for thornynge the wicke for saufegayrde of the shepe. 1784 Robinson Let. in N. & Q. 3rd Ser. IV. 342/2, [I] set a man to hedge and thorn. 1875 Browning Aristophanes' Apol. 630 Vowel-buds thorned about with consonants. |
2. To prick with or as with a thorn; to vex.
| 1590 C'tess Pembroke Antonie 226 And thousand thousand woes Our heau'nly soules now thorne. Ibid. 917 This grief, nay rage,..thornes me still. 1778 Saberna 16 A ruffian he!.. Who stole a rose, and thorn'd the heart it blest! 1811 Coleridge Let. in J. P. Collier Seven Lect. (1856) p. lvii, The perplexities with which..I have been thorned and embrangled. 1877 Tennyson Harold i. i. 243, I am the only rose of all the stock That never thorn'd him. |
† 3. To attach or pin together with thorns.
Obs.| 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. iv. Handie-crafts 140 With their sundry locks, thorn'd each to other, Their tender limbs they hide. |