corn

¹ American  

[kawrn] / kɔrn /

noun

1. especially technical and British, maize.  Also called Indian corn.  a tall cereal plant, Zea mays, cultivated in many varieties, having a jointed, solid stem and bearing the grain, seeds, or kernels on large ears.

2. the grain, seeds, or kernels of this plant, used for human food or for fodder.

3. the ears of this plant.

4. the edible seed of certain other cereal plants, especially wheat in England and oats in Scotland.

5. the plants themselves.

6. sweet corn.

7. corn whiskey.

8. Skiing. corn snow.

9. Informal. old-fashioned, trite, or mawkishly sentimental material, as a joke, a story, or music.

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verb (used with object)

1. to preserve and season with salt in grains.

2. to preserve and season with brine.

3. to granulate, as gunpowder.

4. to plant (land) with corn.

5. to feed with corn.

corn ² American  

[kawrn] / kɔrn /

noun

Pathology.

1. a horny induration or callosity of the epidermis, usually with a central core, formed especially on the toes or feet and caused by undue pressure or friction.

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-corn ³ American  

1. a combining form meaning “having a horn,” of the kind specified by the initial element.

   longicorn.

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Corn. ⁴ American  

abbreviation

1. Cornish.

2. Cornwall.

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corn ¹ British  

/ kɔːn /

noun

1. 1. any of various cereal plants, esp the predominant crop of a region, such as wheat in England and oats in Scotland and Ireland

   2. the seeds of such plants, esp after harvesting

   3. a single seed of such plants; a grain

2. British equivalent: maize.  Also called: Indian corn. 

   1. a tall annual grass, Zea mays, cultivated for its yellow edible grains, which develop on a spike

   2. the grain of this plant, used for food, fodder, and as a source of oil See also sweet corn popcorn

3. 1. the plants producing these kinds of grain considered as a growing crop

      spring corn

   2. ( in combination )

      a cornfield

4. short for corn whisky

5. slang an idea, song, etc, regarded as banal or sentimental

6. archaic any hard particle or grain

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verb

1. to feed (animals) with corn, esp oats

2. 1. to preserve in brine

   2. to salt

3. to plant corn on

corn ² British  

/ kɔːn /

noun

1. a hardening or thickening of the skin around a central point in the foot, caused by pressure or friction

2. informal to offend or hurt someone by touching on a sensitive subject or encroaching on his privileges

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Etymology

Origin of corn¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English; cognate with Dutch koren, Old Norse korn, German Korn, Gothic kaúrn; akin to Russian zernó, Latin grānum grain

Origin of corn²

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English corn(e), from Anglo-French, Old French, from Latin cornū horn (hence a horny hardening of the cuticle); cornu

Origin of -corn³

Representing Latin -cornis horned

Example Sentences

The fifth-generation farmer still wakes early each morning to tend to roughly 1,000 acres of corn and soybeans and 40 cattle.

From The Wall Street Journal

Indigenous peoples in South America had been popping corn for millennia, but it didn’t reach the U.S. until the 19th century, when whalers returned from South America with the whole grain in tow.

From The Wall Street Journal

Its “Country Vegetable Plate” — a choose-your-own adventure of classic sides with biscuits or corn muffins — is proof that pleasure need not center a protein.

From Salon

“I thought we were avoiding corn syrup this summer,” Camille says.

From Literature

The couple bought the 600-year-old former drover's cottage near the remains of a corn mill 10 years ago and carried out major renovation work to the two-room building and surrounding land.

From BBC

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