also short-horn, "one of a breed of cattle having very short horns," by 1847, from short (adj.) + horn (n.). Related: Short-horned.

also shoe-horn, "curved implement used at the heel in slipping on a shoe," 1580s, from shoe (n.) + horn (n.); earlier shoeing-horn (mid-15c.). They were originally made of horn.

mid-15c., "horn of an animal recently killed," also "young horned animal," from green (adj.) in sense of "new, fresh, recent" + horn (n.). Applied to new soldiers from c. 1650; extended to any inexperienced person by 1680s.

c. 1400, hornepype, musical instrument formerly used in England, with bell and mouthpiece made of horn, from horn (n.) + pipe (n.1). From late 15c. as the name of a lively country-dance (later especially popular with sailors) originally performed to music from such an instrument.

"horn of plenty," ancient emblem of fruitfulness and abundance, 1590s, from Late Latin cornucopia, in classical Latin cornu copiae "horn of plenty," originally the horn of the goat Amalthea, who nurtured the infant Zeus. See horn (n.) and copious. Related: Cornucopian.

1859, "put or thrust (something somewhere) by means of a 'tool,' " a figurative use, from shoehorn (n.). By 1927 as "maneuver or compress (someone or something) into inadequate space." Earlier it meant "to cuckold" (mid-17c.), with a play on horn (n.). Related: Shoehorned; shoehorning.

"having horns turning backward and then forward," as a ram, 1775, with -ous + Latin reciprocornis, from reciprocus "turning back the same way" (see reciprocal) + cornu "horn" (see horn (n.)). "This form is characteristic of the sheep tribe, though not peculiar to it" [Century Dictionary].

"large, conical heap of stone," especially of the type common in Scotland and Wales and also found elsewhere in Britain, 1530s, from Scottish carne, akin to Gaelic carn "heap of stones, rocky hill" and Gaulish karnon "horn," perhaps from PIE *ker-n- "highest part of the body, horn," thus "tip, peak" (see horn (n.)).

late 14c., "small portable vessel (originally made of horn) for holding ink," from ink (n.) + horn (n.). Used attributively from 1540s ("Soche are your Ynkehorne termes," John Bale) as an adjective for things (especially vocabulary) supposed to be beloved by scribblers, pedants, and bookworms. An Old English word for the thing was blæchorn.

common dark mineral, 1770, from German Hornblende, from horn "horn of an animal" (see horn (n.)) + blende (see blende).

The term "Hornblende" is an old German name for any dark, prismatic crystal found with metallic ores but containing no valuable metal (the word "Blende" indicates "a deceiver") [Herbert Bucksch, "Dictionary Geotechnical Engineering," 1995]

Related: Horneblendic.