▪ I. corˈnute, a. and n.
[ad. L. cornūt-us, -a, -um horned, f. cornū horn. Already in med.L. used as a n. in sense B. 1, cornūta a retort.]
A. adj. = cornuted.
| 1706 in Phillips (ed. Kersey); hence in Bailey, etc. 1957 Childe Dawn Europ. Civil. (ed. 6) xiii. 249 A fantastic elaboration of handles towards cornute types. |
† B. n. Obs.
1. A retort used in distilling.
| 1605 Timme Quersit. iii. 172 Distill it by a cornute. 1730–6 Bailey (folio), Cornute (with Chymists) a still..having a crooked Neck..to draw Spirits or Oils out of Woods, Minerals, and Things which require a strong Heat. |
2. A forked pennon.
| 1625 F. Markham Bk. Hon. iii. ix. §9 Those that were to receiue this Honour..came before him with their Cornutes, which were long Streamers or Ensignes with two long Forkes, or Nookes at the lower ende in the manner of Hornes. |
3. Some horned animal.
| 1634 R. H. Salernes Regim. 50 Wholesome..against the byting of a Beast called the Cornute. |
4. One who is ‘horned’; a cuckold.
| 1608 Machin Dumb Knt. iii. i. in Hazl. Dodsley X. 173 Your best of friends..Usurps your bed, and makes you a cornute. 1707 E. Ward Hud. Rediv. (1715) II. ix, In the next severe Dispute Between the King and Earl Cornute. |
5. Logic. A ‘horned’ argument, dilemma; the ancient sophism ‘cornutus’: see ceratine.
| 1739 R. Bull tr. Dedekindus' Grobianus 21 A Dilemma is a kind of a Cuckoldy or horned Argument; wherefore Logicians frequently call it a Cornute. [1837–8 Hamilton Logic xxiii. I. 466 The sophisma heterozeteseos, or sophism of counter-questioning..obtained among the ancients the names of the Dilemma, the Cornutus, the Litigiosus [etc.]... To take for an example of this fallacy, the κεράτινος or Cornutus:—it is asked;—Have you cast your horns? [etc.] 1887 Fowler Deduct. Logic 155 (note.)] |
▪ II. cornute, v. arch.
(kɔːˈnjuːt)
[f. as prec.]
trans. To give ‘horns’ to, to ‘horn’; i.e. to make a cuckold of.
| 1597 Lyly Woman in Moone iii. ii, I have done this to cornute my maister. 1633 Ford Love's Sacr. iv. i, You are most shamefully..most scornfully cornuted. 1710 Hearne Collect. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) III. 89 O'regrown in Sin, cornuted, and in Debt. 1885 Athenæum 2 May 577 He [Iago] vehemently suspects that Emilia and Othello have cornuted him. |
b. lit. (nonce-use.)
| 1831 Carlyle Nibel. Lied in Misc. Ess. (1888) III. 124 Let no one..fancy that our brave Siegfried..was actually cornuted, and had horns on his brow. |
Hence corˈnuting vbl. n.
| 1640 Shirley Hum. Court. iv. i, Some city-heir That would..pay for his cornuting. 1772 Town & Country Mag. 23 He had..been a capital offender in the cornuting way. |