thorn

[ thawrn ]
See synonyms for thorn on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a sharp excrescence on a plant, especially a sharp-pointed aborted branch; spine; prickle.

  2. any of various thorny shrubs or trees, especially the hawthorns belonging to the genus Crataegus, of the rose family.

  1. the wood of any of these trees.

  2. a runic character (þ), borrowed into the Latin alphabet and representing the initial th sounds in thin and they in Old English, or thin in modern Icelandic.

  3. something that wounds, annoys, or causes discomfort.

verb (used with object)
  1. to prick with a thorn; vex.

Idioms about thorn

  1. thorn in one's side / flesh, a source of continual irritation or suffering: That child is a thorn in the teacher's side.

Origin of thorn

1
before 900; Middle English (noun), Old English; cognate with Dutch doorn,German Dorn,Old Norse thorn,Gothic thaurnus

Other words from thorn

  • thornless, adjective
  • thornlike, adjective
  • un·thorn, verb (used with object)

Other definitions for Thorn (2 of 2)

Thorn
[ tawrn ]

noun
  1. German name of Toruń.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use thorn in a sentence

  • Andersson, an early explorer, once came upon a forest of thornless trees in this section.

  • The fruit is much smaller than those of the thornless varieties, but it has a very sweet flavor.

    Fruits of the Hawaiian Islands | Gerrit Parmile Wilder
  • Yet the same changeless heaven was above their heads—and earth should have been to them a still more thornless paradise.

    Mary Seaham, Volume 1 of 3 | Elizabeth Caroline Grey
  • It was plain now that Jathrop really was rich, and here was his mother supposing the rose was utterly thornless.

  • But, among all these flowers nourished with light and pure air, the most precious is the thornless rose.

    A Tour Through The Pyrenees | Hippolyte Adolphe Taine

British Dictionary definitions for thorn (1 of 2)

thorn

/ (θɔːn) /


noun
  1. a sharp pointed woody extension of a stem or leaf: Compare prickle (def. 1)

    • any of various trees or shrubs having thorns, esp the hawthorn

    • the wood of any of these plants

  1. short for thorn moth

  2. a Germanic character of runic origin Þ used in Old and Modern Icelandic to represent the voiceless dental fricative sound of th, as in thin, bath. Its use in phonetics for the same purpose is now obsolete: See theta

  3. this same character as used in Old and Middle English as an alternative to edh, but indistinguishable from it in function or sound: Compare edh

  4. zoology any of various sharp spiny parts

  5. a source of irritation (esp in the phrases a thorn in one's side or flesh)

Origin of thorn

1
Old English; related to Old High German dorn, Old Norse thorn

Derived forms of thorn

  • thornless, adjective

British Dictionary definitions for Thorn (2 of 2)

Thorn

/ (toːrn) /


noun
  1. the German name for Toruń

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for thorn

thorn

[ thôrn ]


  1. A short, hard, pointed part of a stem or branch of a woody plant. Compare spine.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.