Horn \Horn\ (h[^o]rn), n. [AS. horn; akin to D. horen, hoorn,
   G., Icel., Sw., & Dan. horn, Goth. ha['u]rn, W., Gael., & Ir.
   corn, L. cornu, Gr. ke`ras, and perh. also to E. cheer,
   cranium, cerebral; cf. Skr. [,c]iras head. Cf. Carat,
   Corn on the foot, Cornea, Corner, Cornet,
   Cornucopia, Hart.]
   1. A hard, projecting, and usually pointed organ, growing
      upon the heads of certain animals, esp. of the ruminants,
      as cattle, goats, and the like. The hollow horns of the Ox
      family consist externally of true horn, and are never
      shed.
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   2. The antler of a deer, which is of bone throughout, and
      annually shed and renewed.
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   3. (Zool.) Any natural projection or excrescence from an
      animal, resembling or thought to resemble a horn in
      substance or form; esp.:
      (a) A projection from the beak of a bird, as in the
          hornbill.
      (b) A tuft of feathers on the head of a bird, as in the
          horned owl.
      (c) A hornlike projection from the head or thorax of an
          insect, or the head of a reptile, or fish.
      (d) A sharp spine in front of the fins of a fish, as in
          the horned pout.
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   4. (Bot.) An incurved, tapering and pointed appendage found
      in the flowers of the milkweed (Asclepias).
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   5. Something made of a horn, or in resemblance of a horn; as:
      (a) A wind instrument of music; originally, one made of a
          horn (of an ox or a ram); now applied to various
          elaborately wrought instruments of brass or other
          metal, resembling a horn in shape. "Wind his horn
          under the castle wall." --Spenser. See French horn,
          under French.
      (b) A drinking cup, or beaker, as having been originally
          made of the horns of cattle. "Horns of mead and ale."
          --Mason.
      (c) The cornucopia, or horn of plenty. See Cornucopia.
          "Fruits and flowers from Amalth[ae]a's horn."
          --Milton.
      (d) A vessel made of a horn; esp., one designed for
          containing powder; anciently, a small vessel for
          carrying liquids. "Samuel took the hornof oil and
          anointed him [David]." --1 Sam. xvi. 13.
      (e) The pointed beak of an anvil.
      (f) The high pommel of a saddle; also, either of the
          projections on a lady's saddle for supporting the leg.
      (g) (Arch.) The Ionic volute.
      (h) (Naut.) The outer end of a crosstree; also, one of the
          projections forming the jaws of a gaff, boom, etc.
      (i) (Carp.) A curved projection on the fore part of a
          plane.
      (j) One of the projections at the four corners of the
          Jewish altar of burnt offering. "Joab . . . caught
          hold on the horns of the altar." --1 Kings ii. 28.
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   6. One of the curved ends of a crescent; esp., an extremity
      or cusp of the moon when crescent-shaped.
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            The moon
            Wears a wan circle round her blunted horns.
                                                  --Thomson.
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   7. (Mil.) The curving extremity of the wing of an army or of
      a squadron drawn up in a crescentlike form.
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            Sharpening in mooned horns
            Their phalanx.                        --Milton.
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   8. The tough, fibrous material of which true horns are
      composed, being, in the Ox family, chiefly albuminous,
      with some phosphate of lime; also, any similar substance,
      as that which forms the hoof crust of horses, sheep, and
      cattle; as, a spoon of horn.
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   9. (Script.) A symbol of strength, power, glory, exaltation,
      or pride.
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            The Lord is . . . the horn of my salvation. --Ps.
                                                  xviii. 2.
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   10. An emblem of a cuckold; -- used chiefly in the plural.
       "Thicker than a cuckold's horn." --Shak.
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   11. the telephone; as, on the horn. [slang]
       [PJC]

   12. a body of water shaped like a horn; as, the Golden Horn
       in Istanbul.
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   Horn block, the frame or pedestal in which a railway car
      axle box slides up and down; -- also called horn plate.
      

   Horn of a dilemma. See under Dilemma.

   Horn distemper, a disease of cattle, affecting the internal
      substance of the horn.

   Horn drum, a wheel with long curved scoops, for raising
      water.

   Horn lead (Chem.), chloride of lead.

   Horn maker, a maker of cuckolds. [Obs.] --Shak.

   Horn mercury. (Min.) Same as Horn quicksilver (below).

   Horn poppy (Bot.), a plant allied to the poppy (Glaucium
      luteum), found on the sandy shores of Great Britain and
      Virginia; -- called also horned poppy. --Gray.

   Horn pox (Med.), abortive smallpox with an eruption like
      that of chicken pox.

   Horn quicksilver (Min.), native calomel, or bichloride of
      mercury.

   Horn shell (Zool.), any long, sharp, spiral, gastropod
      shell, of the genus Cerithium, and allied genera.

   Horn silver (Min.), cerargyrite.

   Horn slate, a gray, siliceous stone.

   To pull in one's horns, To haul in one's horns, to
      withdraw some arrogant pretension; to cease a demand or
      withdraw an assertion. [Colloq.]

   To raise the horn, or To lift the horn (Script.), to
      exalt one's self; to act arrogantly. "'Gainst them that
      raised thee dost thou lift thy horn?" --Milton.

   To take a horn, to take a drink of intoxicating liquor.
      [Low]
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Mercury \Mer"cu*ry\, n. [L. Mercurius; akin to merx wares.]
   1. (Rom. Myth.) A Latin god of commerce and gain; -- treated
      by the poets as identical with the Greek Hermes, messenger
      of the gods, conductor of souls to the lower world, and
      god of eloquence.
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   2. (Chem.) A metallic element mostly obtained by reduction
      from cinnabar, one of its ores. It is a heavy, opaque,
      glistening liquid (commonly called quicksilver), and is
      used in barometers, thermometers, etc. Specific gravity
      13.6. Symbol Hg (Hydrargyrum). Atomic weight 199.8.
      Mercury has a molecule which consists of only one atom. It
      was named by the alchemists after the god Mercury, and
      designated by his symbol, [mercury].
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   Note: Mercury forms alloys, called amalgams, with many
         metals, and is thus used in applying tin foil to the
         backs of mirrors, and in extracting gold and silver
         from their ores. It is poisonous, and is used in
         medicine in the free state as in blue pill, and in its
         compounds as calomel, corrosive sublimate, etc. It is
         the only metal which is liquid at ordinary
         temperatures, and it solidifies at about -39[deg]
         Centigrade to a soft, malleable, ductile metal.
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   3. (Astron.) One of the planets of the solar system, being
      the one nearest the sun, from which its mean distance is
      about 36,000,000 miles. Its period is 88 days, and its
      diameter 3,000 miles.
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   4. A carrier of tidings; a newsboy; a messenger; hence, also,
      a newspaper. --Sir J. Stephen. "The monthly Mercuries."
      --Macaulay.
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   5. Sprightly or mercurial quality; spirit; mutability;
      fickleness. [Obs.]
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            He was so full of mercury that he could not fix long
            in any friendship, or to any design.  --Bp. Burnet.
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   6. (Bot.) A plant (Mercurialis annua), of the Spurge
      family, the leaves of which are sometimes used for
      spinach, in Europe.
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   Note: The name is also applied, in the United States, to
         certain climbing plants, some of which are poisonous to
         the skin, esp. to the Rhus Toxicodendron, or poison
         ivy.
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   Dog's mercury (Bot.), Mercurialis perennis, a perennial
      plant differing from Mercurialis annua by having the
      leaves sessile.

   English mercury (Bot.), a kind of goosefoot formerly used
      as a pot herb; -- called Good King Henry.

   Horn mercury (Min.), a mineral chloride of mercury, having
      a semitranslucent, hornlike appearance.
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