horns

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of horn.

   The two stags locked horns in the middle of the clearing.

   The orchestra's horns came in strongly during the second movement.

   Note

   One spelling covers several kinds of projection: a stag's horns, a rhinoceros's or a narwhal's, a demon's, and the two horns of the crescent moon. It also pluralizes horn as a vessel, as in drinking horns and powder horns. The material itself does not take the plural. A knife handle is made of horn, never of horns, because that sense is uncountable.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of horn.

   The bull horns the fence whenever a stranger approaches the field.

   A startled rhino horns whatever blocks its escape route.

   Note

   Spelled exactly like the plural noun, this verb form is told apart by its subject: the bull horns the fence. It usually takes an object, whether the meaning is goring something or fitting it with horns. In India and Singapore it can also stand alone, meaning to sound a car horn: the taxi horns at every junction. Its old slang use, meaning to cuckold, is obsolete.

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