| 释义 |
▪ I. thorn, n.|θɔːn|
Forms: 1–3 ðorn, 1–5 þorn, (2 þeorn, 3 (Orm.) þorrn, 4 thorun), 4–5 þorne, 4–8 thorne, 4– thorn.
[OE. þorn = OS. thorn (Du. doorn), OHG. dorn (MHG., G. dorn), ON. þorn (Sw., Da. torn), Goth. þaurnus,:—OTeut. *þurn-uz;:—Indo-Eur. *trnus: cf. OSlav. trŭnŭ thorn.]
I.
1. A stiff, sharp-pointed, straight or curved woody process on the stem or other part of a plant; a spine, a prickle.
a800Cynewulf Crist 1445 Þa hi hwæsne beaᵹ ymb min heafod heardne ᵹebyᵹdon..se wæs of þornum ᵹeworht. c950Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xxvii. 29 Ða cempo..ymbworhton ða beᵹe of ðornum, ᵹesetton ofer heafud his. c1000ælfric's Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 139/21 Spina, þorn. Ibid. 139/22 Tribulus, þorn. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 207 He hadde..þornene helm, and þe þornes swiðe prikeden. a1300Cursor M. 17136 (Cott.) Þe thornnes o mi hede standes. Ibid. 17774 (Cott.) Wit thorns crund als was he. 1382Wyclif Prov. xxvi. 9 If a thorun [1388 thorn] be growen in the hond of the drunken. c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 166 Of woundis of þornis. 1484Caxton Fables of æsop iii. i, As he ranne, a thorne entred into his foote. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 175 Like one lost in a Thornie Wood, That rents the Thornes, and is rent with the Thornes. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 256 Flours of all hue, and without Thorn the Rose. 1671Grew Anat. Plants iv. App. §1 Thorns are of two kinds, Lignous and Cortical. 1776Withering Brit. Plants (1796) II. 104 Capsules..awl-shaped, scored, tapering and ending in a double thorn or awn. Ibid. 350 Fruit-stalks forming bunches: thorns 3 together. 1867J. Hogg Microsc. ii. i. 324 Thorns, such as those of the rose, are aborted branches. 1880Gray Struct. Bot. iii. §3 (ed. 6) 55 A Spine or Thorn is usually..the termination of a stem or branch, indurated, leafless, and attenuated to a point. Prov. There is no rose without a thorn.
2. fig. (or in fig. context): Anything that causes pain, grief, or trouble; in various metaphors, similes, and proverbial expressions, as a thorn in the flesh or side, a constant affliction, a source of continual grief, trouble, or annoyance; (to be, sit, stand, walk) on thorns (a thorn), (to be, etc.) in a painful state of anxiety or suspense.
c1230Hali Meid. 9 Ha lickeð huni of þornes: ha buggen al þat swete wið twa dale of bittre. c1374Chaucer Troylus iii. 1055 (1104) Ye, Nece, wole ye pulle out þe þorn [v.r. thorne] That stiketh in his herte. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xii. 14 Welth, warldly gloir, and riche array, Ar all bot thornis laid in thy way. 1561T. Hoby tr. Castiglione's Courtyer ii. (1900) 114 The poore gentilwoman stood upon thornes, and thought an houre a thousande yeare, till she were got from him. c1580J. Jeffere Bugbears iii. ii. in Archiv. Stud. Neu. Spr. (1897), I sytt all on thornes till that matter take effect. 1602Shakes. Ham. i. v. 87 Those Thornes that in her bosome lodge. 1611Bible Numbers xxxiii. 55 Those which ye let remaine of them, shall be..thornes in your sides. Ibid. 2 Cor. xii. 7 Least I should bee exalted aboue measure..there was giuen to me a thorne in the flesh [1526 Tind. vnquyetnes of, 1557 Gen. a pricke in the fleshe], the messenger of Sathan to buffet me. a1698Temple Hist. Eng. 93 No Prince ever came so early into the Cares and Thorns of a Crown. 1768Earl Carlisle in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1843) II. 316, I should have been upon thorns till you had wrote. 1775Sheridan Rivals v. i, Virtuous love..shall pluck the thorn from compunction. 1822Galt Provost xlv, The perverse views..of that Yankee thorn-in-the-side, Mr. Hickery. 1853Mrs. Gaskell Cranford vii. 100 Peggy wanted now to make several little confidences to her, which Miss Barker was on thorns to hear. 1864Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. xii. (1875) 191 The Eastern Church was then, as she is to this day, a thorn in the side of the Papacy. 1886C. E. Pascoe Lond. of To-day xxx. (ed. 3) 274 Not far from the grave of Elizabeth and Mary is that of the former's thorn in life, Mary of Scotland. 1913D. H. Lawrence Sons & Lovers xiii. 379 He was on thorns to be gone from so trying a situation. 1923― Stud. in Classic Amer. Lit. ii. 21 Probably I haven't got over those Poor Richard tags yet. I rankle still with them. They are thorns in young flesh. 1924E. M. Forster Passage to India iv. 34, I can be a thorn in Mr. Turton's flesh, and if he asks me I accept the invitation. 1929J. Buchan Courts of Morning ii. iii. 187 You've given me a thorn to lie on, just when I was feeling comfortable. 1946W. S. Maugham Then & Now xxxi. 187 The family that had been for so long a thorn in the flesh of the Vicars of Christ. 1977E. Quinn tr. Kung & Lapide's Brother or Lord 36 Jesus was undoubtedly a thorn in the flesh for many Saducees.
3. a. A spine or spiny process in an animal.
c1300–[implied in thornback 1]. c1711–56[implied in thorny 1 b]. 1860[see thorn oyster in 8].
b. Histology. (See quots.)
1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 490 The dendrons are possessed of numerous minute lateral projections, gemmules, spines, or ‘thorns’ as they have been variously called. Ibid. VIII. 325 Dr. Alexander Hill believes the so-called ‘thorns’ to be organic structures, which are not shewn in their entirety by the chrome-silver method; and that a thorn is really the cell-end of an unstainable nerve filament, surrounded by a film of staining cell plasm.
c. pl. In Lace-making, Pointed projections used to decorate the cordonnet, etc., in point-lace.
1874Queen Lace Bk. i. 18 Little loops, knots, or knobs..called Pearls, Thorns, or Picots. 1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework, Thorns, used in Needlepoints to decorate the cordonnets and raised parts of the lace. See Spines.
d. thorn needle = fibre needle s.v. fibre n. 8. (Disused.)
1950Vogue Aug. 98/2 Intellectuals often have an E.M.G. gramophone..and they play with thorns, not steels. 1973Amateur Photographer 3 Jan. 33/2 A ‘thorn’ needle was composed of some soft woody or fibrous substance, which was ground to a point in a special machine.
II.
4. a. A plant which bears thorns or prickles; a bramble or brier; a prickly bush, shrub, or tree; a thorn-tree or thorn-bush; esp. any species of the genus Cratægus; in England, spec. the Hawthorn or White-thorn (C. Oxyacantha).
In early OE. þyrne wk. fem.:—*þurnjōn.
a700–[implied in hawthorn]. c725Corpus Gloss. (O.E.T.) 1834 Sentes, ðornas. c888K. ælfred Boeth. xxiii, Swa hwa swa wille sawan westmabære land, atio ærest of ða þornas & þa fyrsas & þ̶ fearn & ealle þa weod. c950Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xiii. 7 Oðro uutedlice ᵹefeollon in ðornum..& woxon ða ðornas..& underdulfon ða. c1000ælfric Gen. iii. 18 Þornas and bremelas heo asprit þe. 1045Charter Edward in Kemble Cod. Dipl. IV. 98 On ðane greatan þorn ðe stynt wið Grimes dic. c1200Ormin 9219 Þurrh þorrness & þurrh breress Þær shulenn beon ridinngess nu. c1250Gen. & Ex. 1334 Faste in ðornes he saȝ a sep. 1382Wyclif Judg. ix. 14 And alle the trees seiden to the thorn, Com, and comaund thow vpon us. c1450Godstow Reg. 34 Fowre burdyns of thornys of her wood of Cumnore. 1545Brinklow Lament. (1874) 92 Do briers bringe forth figges, and thorns grapes? 1615W. Lawson Orch. & Gard. (1623) Pref., Curious conceits..inoculating Roses on Thornes, and such like. 1750Gray Elegy 116 Grav'd on the stone beneath yon aged thorn. 1800Wordsw. Hart-leap Well 33 Dismounting, then, he leaned against a thorn. 1866Treas. Bot. 344/2 The thorns [Cratægus] are natives of Europe, North America, and the temperate regions of Asia and Africa. 1882Garden 24 June 449/1 Thorns, white, pink, and crimson..have been very beautiful.
b. (without article). Thorn bushes or branches collectively; also, the wood of a thorn-tree.
a1300Cursor M. 924 (Cott.) Brembel and thorn it sal te yeild. Ibid. 16437 Þai crond him wit þorn. c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 14 Sibriht,..Þat a suynhird slouh vnder a busk of thorn. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xii. 228 Þe pyes..þere þe þorne is thikkest..buylden and brede. 1508Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 15 Throw pykis of the plet thorne I presandlie luikit. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. iv. 26 It is too rough, Too rude, too boysterous, and it pricks like thorne. 1615Chapman Odyss. xiv. 17 The inner part..Which with an hedge of Thorn he fenc't about. 1712Pope Messiah 73 Sandy vallies once perplexed with thorn. Mod. Thorn is a hard wood, and makes good cudgels.
c. fig. (or in figurative language). Sometimes alluding to the parable of the sower, Matt. xiii. 7.
a1340Hampole Psalter xxxii. 12 Full of thornes & brers of synnes. 1735Johnson Lobo's Abyssinia, Descr. i. 47 Little besides the Name of Christianity is to be found here, and the Thorns may be said to have choaked the Grain. 1819Shelley Ode West Wind 54, I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed! 1850W. Irving Goldsmith xxxvii. 358 The thorns which beset an author in the path of theatrical literature.
5. With qualifying words used to distinguish species and varieties of Cratægus, and to designate various other thorny plants: as aronia, thorn, Cratægus Aronia; buffalo thorn, Acacia latronum, an Indian tree; Egyptian thorn, Acacia vera, one of the trees which produce gum-arabic; elephant thorn, Acacia tomentosa (Treas. Bot. 1866); evergreen thorn, Cratægus Pyracantha, an ornamental evergreen bearing a profusion of red berries in clusters during winter; Jerusalem thorn, Parkinsonia aculeata, a spiny shrub found in tropical regions; Mysore thorn, Cæsalpinia sepiaria, a leguminous plant; Spanish hedgehog thorn, some species of the genus Anthyllis. See also blackthorn, box-t., buckthorn, camel's-t., christ's t., Glastonbury t., goat's-t., hawthorn, lily t., mouse-t., orange t., purging t., sallow t., scorpion's t., white-thorn.
1882Garden 12 Aug. 145/3 The *Aronia Thorn..is a moderate-growing tree.
1866Treas. Bot., *Buffalo Thorn, Acacia latronum.
1731Miller Gard. Dict., Acacia, *Egyptian Thorn or Binding Bean Tree. 1860Mayne Expos. Lex., Egyptian Thorn,..Acacia vera, the gum-arabic tree.
1731Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Mespilus, The Pyracantha or *Ever-green Thorn.
1866Treas. Bot. 847/2 P[arkinsonia] aculeata, called in Jamaica the *Jerusalem Thorn.
1814Roxburgh Hort. Bengal. 32 Cæsalpinia sepiaria, *Mysore Thorn.
1760J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 329 Thorn, *Spanish Hedgehog, Anthyllis.
6. (Short for thorn-moth.) Collectors' name for various geometrid moths.
Applied originally to species whose larvæ feed on the hawthorn or kindred plants.
1832Rennie Conspectus Butterfl. & Moths 105 Geometra (Leach)... The September Thorn (G. erosaria). Ibid. 106 The Angled Thorn (G. angularia). 1869Newman Brit. Moths 57 The September Thorn (Ennomos erosaria).
III. 7. The name of the Old English and Icelandic runic letter þ (= th); named, like other runes, from the word of which it was the initial.
c1000Runic Poem iii. (Gr.), Þorn byð þearle scearp. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xv. 71 Þ and ȝ, whilk er called þorn and ȝok. 1885E. M. Thompson in Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 160/1 The English letter thorn, þ, survived and continued in use down to the 15th century.
IV.
8. attrib. and Comb. a. Attributive, as thorn-acacia, thorn avenue, thorn-bed (bed n. 8), thorn-cover (cover n.1 4), thorn fence, thorn-fire, thorn forest, thorn grove, thorn-holt, thorn jungle, thorn kloof, thorn-prick, thorn-puncture, thorn scrub, thorn stick, thorn-sting, thorn thicket, thorn-twig, thorn woodland; objective, etc., as thorn-bearer, thorn-eater; thorn-like, thorn-proof (also as n., sc. ‘material’), thorn-resisting adjs.; instrumental, as thorn-bound, thorn-covered, thorn-encompassed, thorn-marked, thorn-pricked, thorn-set, thorn-strewn, thorn-wounded, thorn-wreathed adjs.b. Special combs.: † thorn-beak, the garfish, Belone vulgaris; thornberry, (the fruit of) the hawthorn; thorn-bill, (a) a humming-bird of the South American genus Rhamphomicron; (b) any of several small warblers of the genus Acanthiza or a closely related genus, found in Australia, New Guinea, and New Zealand; thorn-bird, a South American bird, Anumbius acuticaudatus (allied to the oven-bird), which builds a large domed nest of thorny twigs (Webster, 1890); thorn-bit, ? a bit with a sharp projection which pricks the horse's mouth; also fig.; † thorn-broom, (a) the petty whin, Genista anglica; (b) the common furze; † thorn-but [butt n.1], ? = thorn-back 1; thorn-catcher, a device attached to a bicycle or motor-car, to extract thorns and the like from the tire as the wheel rotates; thorn-devil, name of an Australian lizard, Moloch horridus; = Moloch 2; thorn-fly (also hawthorn-fly, thorn-tree fly), a kind of artificial fly; † thorn-garth, an enclosure protected by a thorn-hedge; † thorn-grape, the gooseberry; thorn-head (Webster, 1890), thorn-headed worm, one of the Acanthocephala, intestinal parasitic worms having the proboscis furnished with hooks or spines; † thorn-hog, a hedgehog; thorn-hopper, a tree-hopper, Thelia cratægi, which frequents thorny shrubs (Cent. Dict. 1891); thorn house, in salt-making by the graduation method, a structure in which weak brine is caused to trickle over piles or high walls of thorns and brushwood giving a large surface for evaporation; thorn-letter, the runic letter þ: = sense 7; thorn-lizard = thorn-devil; thorn-locust, the common honey-locust tree of N. America, Gleditschia triacanthos; thorn-moth = sense 6; thorn-mussel, a pinna; thorn oyster, popular name of bivalves of the family Spondylidæ, in which the older specimens have the lower valve spiny; also thorny oyster; thorn-quick, a young thorn-plant for a hedge; † thorn-rone, a brake or undergrowth of thorns; thorn-shell, a spiny shellfish; thorn-stone, a concretion deposited on the faggots in a thorn house (see quot. 1848); thorn-swine, a porcupine (Cent. Dict. 1891); thorn-tail, popular name of the humming-birds of the South American genus Gouldia, distinguished by a long pointed tail; thorn-tailed a., having a tail resembling a thorn, or with thorn-like processes; thorn-tailed agama, an agamoid lizard of the genus Uromastix, having the tail cased with rings of spiny scales; thornveld S. Afr., veld in which Acacias predominate; thorn-wall, in salt-making: cf. thorn house; thorn-wood, (a) a wood of thorns; (b) (thornwood) a South African tree (perh. Acacia Natalitia, the South African Wattle); also attrib. See also thorn-apple, thorn-bush, etc.
1570Levins Manip. 207/6 A Hornbeak, fish... A *Thorn-beak.
1894G. Allen in Westm. Gaz. 8 May 2/1 They [nettles] make a practice of sheltering themselves under..stouter and taller *thorn-bearers.
1844Stephens Bk. Farm I. 374 The ditch is thus marked out ready for the formation of the *thorn-bed.
1766Ld. Fife Let. 30 Nov. in A. & H. Tayler Lord Fife & his Factor (1925) ii. 36 Tell Thos. Reid that his Information as to there being no *Thornberrys this season is wrong. 1886Britten & Holland Dict. Eng. Plant-Names 467 Thornberries. Fruit of Cratægus Oxyacantha. 1934E. Reynard Narrow Land v. 248 The Dover cliff was a thornberry scratch compared with what befell Cape Cod.
1861Gould Humming Birds III. Pl. 188 Ramphomicron Ruficeps—Red-capped *Thorn-Bill. 1870Gillmore tr. Figuier's Rept. & Birds 471 The Thornbills..are American birds. 1911J. A. Leach Austral. Bird Bk. 141 These birds..have been called *Thornbills by Mr. A. J. North. 1933Bulletin (Sydney) 5 Apr. 27/1 The yellow-tailed thornbill constructs a double nest, the lower cavity..containing the eggs. 1964Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 17 Oct. 2/1 There is a species or more of Thornbill in every mainland State. 1975I. Rowley Bird Life iii. 40 The real diminutives forage..by rapid and nearly continuous searching of ground or shrub layer as by wrens and thornbills.
1886Kipling Departm. Ditties, etc. (1899) 90 The colt who is wise will abstain from the terrible *thorn-bit of Marriage.
1578Lyte Dodoens vi. ix. 668 Genistilla, Furze or *thorne Broome groweth in vntoyled places. 1597Gerarde Herbal iii. xviii. 1140 In English Furze, Furzen bushes, Whinne, Gorsse, and Thorne Broome.
1668Charleton Onomast. 149 Rhombus..Qui est vel Aculeatus, the *Thorn-but. 1736Ainsworth Lat. Dict., The thornbut, Rhombus aculeatus.
1901Daily Chron. 1 June 8/7 A great many punctures can be nipped in the bud, so to speak, by employing *thorn-catchers.
1850R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. (1902) 158/2 We halted..beside several acres of *thorn-cover.
1642Milton Apol. Smect. v. Wks. 1738 I. 119 This obscure *thorn-eater of Malice and Detraction, as well as of Quodlibets and Sophisms.
1843Farmers' Cabinet 15 Jan. 184/1 Our fences are either the worm, post-and-rail, or *thorn. 1946L. G. Green So Few are Free 226 Deep in the mountains they discovered a high thorn fence, obviously a man-made obstruction.
1799G. Smith Laboratory II. 310 *Thorn-fly. Dubbing of black lamb's wool [etc.].
1903W. R. Fisher tr. Schimper's Plant-Geogr. i. iii. 260 The *Thorn-forest..is very rich in underwood. 1960N. Polunin Introd. Plant Geogr. xiv. 442 Tropical thorn-forests..are usually still more xerophilous.
a1340Hampole Psalter lxxxviii. 39 Thou distroyd all his *thorne garthis.
1578Lyte Dodoens vi. xix. 681 Vua spina, whiche may be Englished, *Thorne grape.
1886Fagge & Pye-Smith Princ. Med. (ed. 2) II. 234 An acanthocephalous or *thornheaded worm, Echinorrhynchus sp., has only once been certainly discovered in the human intestine.
1340Ayenb. 66 Þe *þorn-hog þet ys al ywryȝe myd prikyinde eles.
c1450Godstow Reg. 208 Half a rode of lond, liyng in the *thorneholte in the feldes of halso.
1866Tomlinson's Cycl. II. 552/1 [At Moutiers] There are four evaporating houses called Maisons d'Epines or *thorn-houses. 1879G. Gladstone in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 353/1 Thorn houses..are gigantic erections consisting of a skeleton of timber filled in with thorn bushes..the water trickles down over the ends of the twigs.
1913‘Saki’ When William Came vi. 102 We have somewhere to go to..better than the scrub and the veldt and the *thorn-jungles. 1936Discovery Nov. 337/1 The City of the Lake, buried deep in thorn jungle, through which we cut a path.
1902Skeat in Athenæum 22 Nov. 684/1 The words ‘that’ and ‘this’ and ‘the’ all begin, in the MS., with the usual *thorn-letter.
1899J. Cagney Jaksch's Clin. Diagn. viii. 413 The resulting cultivation is marked with..*thorn-like processes projecting from it.
1860Wraxall Life in Sea vi. 143 The great *Thorn-mussel (Pinna) of the Mediterranean.
Ibid. viii. 208 They [species of Spondyli] are distinguished by bright colours, but more especially by the long thorns and spurs with which they are covered, and for this reason they are also called *Thorn Oysters.
1858C. Rossetti Fr. House to Home 63, I felt no *thorn-prick when I plucked a flower.
1565Jewel Repl. Harding (1611) 417 That *Thorn-prickt, Nail-boared, Speare-pierced, and otherwise wounded, rent, and torne Bodie.
1908Daily Chron. 25 Apr. 9/5 A Beeston Humber bicycle, of roadster type, fully equipped with special *thorn-proof tyres and a metal gear-case. 1955W. Gaddis Recognitions iii. iv. 846 Engulfed in the flow of a tartan lap robe and folds of Irish *thorn-proof, he stared fixedly at an open book. 1978Birds Spring 3/2 (Advt.), Gamefair Jacket... In natural olive Beacon Thornproof.
1755Forfeited Estates Papers (S.H.S.) 92 [He] has raised.. since 1740 no less than 1,676,147 *Thorn Quicks.
a1400Sc. Trojan War ii. 2437 And has bot one small hole but dout In-to þat *thorn-rone, richt secre.
1903Kipling Five Nations 54 The thickets dwined to *thorn-scrub, and the water drained to shallows. 1974R. Adams Shardik lviii. 496 This is a country of thorn-scrub and fine, blowing sand.
1757Dyer Fleece i. 115 Haughty trees..that weaken *thorn-set mounds.
1860Wraxall Life in Sea viii. 209 A wondrously beautiful *Thorn Shell.
1857Hughes Tom Brown i. ii, A stout *thorn stick in his hand.
1848Knapp's Chem. Technol. I. 266 The thorns become gradually covered with a thick coating (*thorn-stone), consisting of carbonates of lime, magnesia, manganese, and protoxide of iron. 1885C. G. W. Lock Workshop Receipts Ser. iv. 153/1 [The fagots] have to be changed every 2 years or so, on account of a deposit of calcium carbonate (‘thornstone’) which coats them.
1783Latham Gen. Syn. Birds IV. 463 *Thorn-tailed Warbler... Inhabits Terra del Fuego. 1888Cassell's Encycl. Dict. s.v. Uromastix, Thorn-tailed Agamas..from the south of Russia..and Central India.
1895G. B. Shaw Let. 31 Aug. (1965) I. 556, I lay there looking up peacefully at the moon through..the laced *thorntwigs of the briar.
1878A. Aylward Transvaal of To-Day xii. 246 Four young men, all Africanders, nearly lost their lives in the Speckboom *thornveld. 1936L. Herrman in N. Isaacs Trav. & Adventures Eastern Afr. I. ii. 19 His ‘panthers’ are the small dark-skinned leopards of the thornveld. 1972Palmer & Pitman Trees S. Afr. I. iii. 81 In the thornveld of Zululand, Acacia karoo, Acacia nilotica, Acacia caffra,..and Acacia tortilis subsp. heteracantha are frequent.
1866Tomlinson's Cycl. II. 554/1 The Saxon method of graduation by the use of *thorn-walls.
1850R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. (1902) 147/1 Reducing with adzes a *thornwood tree, which was to serve as a beam. 1863W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting vi. 148 A beautiful country of dense thornwood.
1903W. R. Fisher tr. Schimper's Plant-Geogr. iii. iv. 492 *Thorn-woodland appears..on very permeable, dry, sandy soil. 1960N. Polunin Introd. Plant Geogr. xiv. 442 Grasses are often lacking in the drier thorn-woodlands.
1819Shelley Prometh. Unb. i. 598 Let that *thorn-wounded brow Stream not with blood.
▪ II. thorn, v. Now rare.|θɔːn|
[f. prec. n.]
1. trans. To make thorny, to furnish with thorns; esp. to protect (a newly planted quick-set hedge or the like) with dead thorn-bushes. Also absol.
1483Cath. Angl. 384/1 To Thorne, dumare, spinare, dumere esse vel fieri, -escere. 1541Nottingham Rec. III. 382 For thorns and for thornyng of wylo settes. 1579Mem. St. Giles, Durham (Surtees) 1 Payde..for thornynge the wicke for saufegayrde of the shepe. 1784Robinson Let. in N. & Q. 3rd Ser. IV. 342/2, [I] set a man to hedge and thorn. 1875Browning Aristophanes' Apol. 630 Vowel-buds thorned about with consonants.
2. To prick with or as with a thorn; to vex.
1590C'tess Pembroke Antonie 226 And thousand thousand woes Our heau'nly soules now thorne. Ibid. 917 This grief, nay rage,..thornes me still. 1778Saberna 16 A ruffian he!.. Who stole a rose, and thorn'd the heart it blest! 1811Coleridge Let. in J. P. Collier Seven Lect. (1856) p. lvii, The perplexities with which..I have been thorned and embrangled. 1877Tennyson Harold i. i. 243, I am the only rose of all the stock That never thorn'd him.
†3. To attach or pin together with thorns. Obs.
1598Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. iv. Handie-crafts 140 With their sundry locks, thorn'd each to other, Their tender limbs they hide. |