(colloquial).—To cuckold. [Becco (= a he-goat) and cornuto (= a horned thing) are good Italian for a cuckold; in Florio (A Worlde of Wordes, 1598) andar in cornouaglia senza barca (i.e., to go to Cornwall without a ship) = to win the horn; and the expression, as the example from Lydgate appears to show, may very well have been imported into English from the Italian. Also, it seems to have begun to be literary about the middle of the sixteenth century, when the Italian influence was at its height. For the rest it passed in triumph into written English, was used in every possible combination, had a run at least two centuries long, and is still intelligible, though not in common service.] See ACTÆON, ANTLERS, BULL’S FEATHER, FREEMAN OF BUCKS, etc.
Hence, TO HORNIFY (see subs., sense 3), and TO GRAFT (or GIVE) HORNS; to WEAR HORNS = to live a cuckold; HORNER, subs. = a cuckold maker; HORN-MAD, adj. phr. (q.v.); HORNED, adj. = cuckolded; HORN-GROWER (or MERCHANT) subs. = a married man; HORN-FEVER, subs. = cuckoldry; TO EXALT ONE’S HORN, verb. phr. = (1) to cuckold, and (2) to rejoice in, or profit by, the condition; TO WIND THE HORN = to publish the fact of cuckoldom; HORNS-TO-SELL, subs. phr. = (1) a lewd wife, and (2) a wittol; TO POINT THE HORN = to fork the fingers in derision (as in Hogarth’s ‘Industrious and Idle Apprentice,’ 1790, plate v.); HORN-WORKS = the process of cuckolding; AT THE SIGN OF THE HORN = in cuckoldom; HORN-PIPE = (see quot. 1602); HORNED HERD, subs. phr. = husbands in general (specifically, the city men, the Citizens of London, the cuckolding of whom by West-end gallants is a constant theme of seventeenth-century jokes); GILT-HORN, subs. = a contented cuckold; SPIRIT OF HARTSHORN = the suspicion or the certainty of cuckoldom; LONG HORNS, subs. = a notorious cuckold; KNIGHT OF HORNSEY, also MEMBER FOR HORNCASTLE, subs. phr.—A cuckold, etc.
d. 1440. LYDGATE, Falle of Prynces, B. ii., leaf 56, (ed. Wayland, 1557, quoted in DYCE’S Skelton, 1843, ii., 132).
| To speke plaine englishe made him cokolde. | |
| Alas I was not auised wel beforne, | |
| Vnkonnyngly to speake such language, | |
| I should haue sayde how that he had an HORNE … | |
| And in some land Cornodo men do them cal, | |
| And some affirme that such folke haue no gal. |
c. 1520. Hickscorner (DODSLEY, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, i., 180).
| My mother was a lady of the stews’ blood born, | |
| And (knight of the halter) my father ware an HORN. |
c. 1537. Thersites (DODSLEY, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, i., 412).
| Why, will not thou thy HORNS in hold? | |
| Thinkest thou that I am a cuckold? |
1550. C. BANSLEY, A Treatyse, Shewing and Declaring the Pryde and Abuse of Women Now a Dayes (176, in Remains of the Early Popular Poetry of England, ed. Hazlitt, IV. 237).
| And loke well, ye men, to your wives trycksynes, | |
| Whyche is to shamefull wide, | |
| Or some wyll not styche, or it be longe, | |
| To HORNE you on everye side. |
1568. Bannatyne MSS., ‘The use of Court,’ p. 765 (Hunterian Club, 1886).
| Vp gettis hir wame, | |
| Scho thinkis no schame, | |
| For to bring hame, | |
| The laird ane HORNE. |
1575. R[ichard] B[ower], Appius and Virginia (DODSLEY, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iv., 118). A hairbrain, a hangman, or a grafter of HORNERS?
1575. Laneham’s Letter (ed. 1871), p. 40. With yoor paciens, Gentlmen,… be it said: wear it not in deede that HORNZ bee so plentie, HORNWARE I beleeue woold bee more set by than it iz, and yet thear in our parts, that wyll not stick too auoow that many an honest man both in citee and cuntree hath had hiz hoous by HORNING well vphollden, and a daily freend allso at need.
1600. Grim, the Collier of Croydon, iii. (DODSLEY, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, viii., 436). My head groweth hard: my HORNS will shortly spring!
1586. T. LUPTON, A Thousand Notable Things of Sundry Sortes, ed. 1675, p. 261. Take heed thou art not HORN’D, and then fecht home.
1597. JOSEPH HALL, Satires, i., 8.
| Fond wit-wal that wouldst load thy witless head | |
| With timely HORNS, before thy bridal bed! | |
| Idem, ii., 7. | |
| If chance it come to wanton Capricorne, | |
| And so into the Ram’s disgraceful HORNE. |
1598. SHAKESPEARE, 2 Henry IV., i. 2. Well, he hath the HORN OF ABUNDANCE and the lightness of his wife shines through it.
1598. JONSON, Every Man in his Humour, v. 1.
| See, what a drove of HORNS fly in the air, | |
| Wing’d with my cleansèd, and my credulous breath. |
1598. SYLVESTER, Du Bartas, ed. 1641, v., 41.
| The adulterous Sargus … | |
| Courting the Shee Goates on the grassie shore | |
| Would HORN their husbands that had horns before. |
1599. JONSON, Every Man out of his Humour, iv., 4. Now HORN UPON HORN pursue thee, thou blind, egregious, dotard.
1600. Look About You, Sc. 10 (DODSLEY, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii., 415). Fau. By adding HORNS unto our falcon’s head!
1600. SHAKESPEARE, As You Like It, iv. 2.
| All. Take thou no scorn to wear the HORN, | |
| It was a crest ere thou wast born. |
1600. SHAKESPEARE, Much Ado about Nothing, ii. 1. Then up comes the devil with his HORNS upon his head, looking like an old cuckold. Ibid., v. 1. But when shall we see the savage bull’s HORNS on the sensible Benedict’s head.
1601. JONSON, The Poetaster, iv., 3. And there is never a star in thy forehead but shall be a HORN if thou dost persist to abuse me.
1602. T. CAMPION, English Poesy (BULLEN, Works, 1889, p. 248). Mock him not with HORNS, the case is altered.
1603. Philotus (PINKERTON, Scottish Poems, 1752, iii., 17). Sen thair may be na uther buit? Plat on his heid ane HORNE.
1604. MARSTON, The Malcontent, i., 1. Mal. Mendoza is the man makes thee a HORNED BEAST; duke, ’tis Mendoza cornutes thee.
1605. JONSON, Volpone, or the Fox, ii., 4. Volp.: Nay, then, I not repent me of my late disguise. Mos.: If you can HORNE him, Sir, you need not.
1605. CHAPMAN, All Fools, v., 1 (Plays, 1874, p. 75). And will you BLOW THE HORN yourself, when you may keep it to yourself? Go to, you are a fool. Ibid. (p. 76). It may very well be that the devil brought HORNS into the world, but the women brought them to the men.
1602. J. COOKE, How a Man may Choose a Good Wife from a Bad, ii., 1 (DODSLEY, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 29). Amin. Quando venis aput, I shall have two HORNS on my caput.
1607. DEKKER, Northward Hoe, Act i., p. 6.
| If a man be deuorst, whether may he haue an action or no, gainst those that MAKE HORNS AT HIM. | |
| Ibid., iv., p. 54. | |
| This curse is on all letchers throwne, | |
| They giue HORNS and at last, HORNES are their owne. |
1608. ROWLANDS, Humor’s Looking Glass, p. 22.
| Besides, she is as perfect chast, as faire, | |
| But being married to a jealous asse, | |
| He vowes she HORNES him. |
1609. JONSON, Epicœne, or the Silent Woman, iii., 1. By that light you deserve to be grafted, and your HORNS reach from one side of the island to the other.
1616. JONSON, The Devil is an Ass, v., 5.
| Fitz. And a cuckold is, | |
| Wherever he puts his head, with a wannion, | |
| If his HORNS be forth, the devil’s companion. |
1618. ROWLANDS, The Night Raven, p. 25.
| ’Tis this bad liver doth the HORNE-PLAGUE breed, | |
| Which day and night my jealous thoughts doth feed. |
c. 1620. BEAUMONT and FLETCHER, Women Pleased, v., 3.
| I shall then be full of scorn, | |
| Wanton, proud (beware the HORN). |
1623. COCKERAN, English Dictionary, s.v. SARGUS, an adulterous fish which goes on the grassie shore, and HORNES the hee Goates that had horns before.
1627. DRAYTON, Agincourt and Other Poems, p. 174, ‘The Moon-calf.’
| Some made mouthes at him, others, as in scorne, | |
| With their forkt-fingers POYNTED him THE HORN. |
1629. DAVENANT, Albovine, ed. 1673, p. 436.
| ’Twas a subtle reach | |
| To tell him that the king hath HORN’D his brow. |
1633. ROWLEY, A Match at Midnight, ii. 1 (DODSLEY, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiii., 40). HORNING the headmen of his parish, and taking money for his pains.
1633. FORD, Love’s Sacrifice, iii., 3. D’Av. Fernando is your rival, has stolen your duchess’s heart, murdered friendship, HORNS your head, and laughs at your horns.
1637. BEAUMONT and FLETCHER, The Elder Brother, iv., 4.
| I shall have some music yet | |
| At my making free o’ th’ company of HORNERS. |
1640. RAWLINS, The Rebellion, i., 1 (DODSLEY, Old Plays (HAZLITT), 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 15).
| Fresh as a city bridegroom, | |
| That has sign’d his wife a warrant for the | |
| GRAFTING OF HORNS. |
1643. BROME, A New Diurnal, etc. (CHALMERS, English Poets, 1810, vi., 667).
| Prince Rupert, for fear that his name be confounded, | |
| Will saw off his HORNS, and make him a Roundhead. |
1653. MIDDLETON and ROWLEY, The Spanish Gipsy, iii., 1.
| Beggars would on cock-horse ride, | |
| And boobies fall a-roaring, | |
| And cuckolds, though no HORNS be spied, | |
| Be one another goring. |
1653. DAVENANT, The Siege of Rhodes, p. 34.
| It stuffs up the marriage-bed with thorns. | |
| It gores itself, it gores itself with imagined HORNS. |
1657. MIDDLETON, Women beware Women (1657), iii., 2. Cuckolds dance the HORNPIPE, and farmers dance the hay. Idem., iv., 2. Go, lie down, master; but take care your HORNS do not make holes in the pillow-beers.
1659. Lady Alimony, i., 2 (DODSLEY, Old Plays (HAZLITT), 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 280). My scene, Trillo, is HORN ALLEY. Ibid., iii., 6 (p. 340). Sir Reu. Doubt nothing, my fellow-knights of HORNSEY.
1661. WEBSTER, A Cure for Cuckold (1661), v., 2. He that hath HORNS thus let him learn to shed.
1663. KILLIGREW, The Parson’s Wedding, iv., 1 (DODSLEY, Old Plays (HAZLITT), 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 473). Care. I hope to EXALT THE parson’s HORN here. Ibid., p. 477. Only to fright the poor cuckolds, and make the fools digest their horns. Ibid., v., 4, p. 519. Methinks my corns ache more than my HORNS. Ibid., p. 520. I have seen a cuckold of your complexion; if he had had as much hoof as HORN, you might have hunted the beast by the slot.
1664. BUTLER, Hudibras, II., ii., 711.
| For when men by their wives are cow’d, | |
| Their HORNS of course are understood. |
1668. SIR R. L’ESTRANGE, The Visions of Quevedo, p. 251 (ed. 1708). He that marries, ventures fair for the HORN, either before or after.
1673. RAY, Proverbs (in BOHN, 1889), s.v. He had better PUT HIS HORNS IN HIS POCKET than wind them. Idem. (p. 184). HORNS and gray hairs do not come with years. Idem. id., Who hath HORNS in his pocket let him not put them on his head.
1675. WYCHERLEY, The Country Wife, v., 4, Epilogue: Encouraged by our woman’s man to-day, A HORNER’S part may vainly think to play. Ibid., i., 1. I make no more cuckolds, sir. (MAKES HORNS.) Ibid., iv., 3. If ever you suffer your wife to trouble me again here, she shall carry you home a pair of HORNS.
1677. WYCHERLEY, The Plain Dealer, iv., 1. First, the clandestine obscenity in the very name of HORNER.
d. 1680. BUTLER, Remains (1757), ii., 372. His own branches, his HORNS, are as mystical as the Whore of Babylon’s Palfreys, not to be seen but in a vision.
1693. CONGREVE, The Old Bachelor, iv., 15. Pox choke him. Would his HORNS were in his throat.
1695. CONGREVE, Love for Love, iv., 15. The clocks will strike twelve at noon, and the HORNED HERD buzz in the Exchange at two.
1698. FARQUHAR, Love and a Bottle, iv., 3. Should I ever be tried before this judge, how I should laugh to see how gravely his goose cap bits upon a pair of HORNS!
1700. CONGREVE, The Way of the World, iii., 7. Man should have his head and HORNS, and woman the rest of him.
1702. STEELE, The Funeral; or, Grief à-la-Mode, Act. i., p. 22. The wench I know has played me false, and HORNED me in my gallants. [NOTE.—That the speaker is a female shows the word to have been transferable to the other sex.]
1708. W. KING, The Art of Love, pt. x. (CHALMERS, English Poets, 1810, ix., 274).
| Sometimes his dirty paws she scorns, | |
| While her fair fingers show his HORNS. |
1708. PRIOR, Poems, ‘The Turtle and Sparrow,’ line 302–9.
| ‘Two staring HORNS,’ I often said, | |
| ‘But ill became a sparrow’s head’ … | |
| ‘Whilst at the root your HORNS are sore, | |
| The more you scratch, they ache the more.’ |
1719. D’URFEY, Wit and Mirth; or Pills to Purge Melancholy, i., 174. And who’s the Cuckold, who’s the HORNER?
1728. PATRICK WALKER, Alexander Peden, ‘Postscript’ (ed. 1827, i.). A profane, obscene meeting called the HORN-ORDER.
1737. FIELDING, Tumble-Down Dick, Works (1718) iii., 408.
| Think it enough your betters do the deed, | |
| And that by HORNING you I mend the breed. |
d. 1742. SOMERVILLE, Occasional Poems (CHALMERS, English Poets, 1810, xi., 238).
| If I but catch her in a corner, | |
| Humph! ’tis your servant, Colonel HORNER. |
1759–67. STERNE, Tristram Shandy, ch. xxxvii. Nor have the horn-works he speaks of anything to do with the HORN-WORKS of Cuckoldom.
1765. C. SMART, Fables, xi., line 66.
| And though your spouse my lecture scorns, | |
| Beware his fate, beware his HORNS. |
d. 1770. CHATTERTON, The Revenge, i., 1.
| Let her do what she will, | |
| The husband is still, | |
| And but for his HORNS you would think him an ass. | |
| Idem., ii., 4. | |
| Have you come HORNING. |
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
c. 1786. CAPTAIN MORRIS (Collection of Songs), The Great Plenipotentiary (9th ed. 1788, stanza ix., p. 43).
| She had HORNED the dull brows of her worshipful spouse, | |
| Till they sprouted like Venus’s myrtle. |
d. 1796. BURNS, The Merry Muses, ‘Cuddy the Cooper,’ p. 84.
| On ilka brow she’s PLANTED A HORN, | |
| An’ swears that there they shall stan’, O. |
1813. MOORE, Poems. ‘Re-inforcements for the Duke,’ iii., 209. Old H——df——t at HORN-WORKS again might be tried.
1816. QUIZ, Grand Master, canto vii., p. 199, line 10.
| (She) smil’d, declaring that she scorn’d him, | |
| (She might have added that she’d HORN’D him). |
1822. SCOTT, The Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxxvi. O what a generous creature is your true London husband! HORNS hath he, but, tame as a fatted ox, he goreth not. Ibid. (1825), The Betrothed, ch. xvii. I ever tell thee, husband, the HORNS would be worth the hide in a fair market.
TO DRAW IN ONE’S HORNS, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To withdraw or to retract; to cool down.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. HORNS.
TO HORN OFF, verb. phr. (American).—To put on one side; to shunt. [As a bull or stag with his horns.]
1851. J. J. HOOPER, The Widow Rugby’s Husband, etc., p. 69. You HORNED me off to get a chance to get gaming witnesses out of the way.
IN A HORN, adv. phr. (American).—A general qualification, implying refusal or disbelief; OVER THE LEFT (q.v.).
1858. Washington Evening Star, 26 Aug. I have mentioned before the innumerable comforts—IN A HORN—of the old White Sulphur Springs.
TO WIND (or BLOW) THE HORN, verb. phr. (old).—To break wind; TO FART (q.v.).
1620. PERCY, Folio MSS., ‘Ffryar and Boye.’ Her tayle shall wind the HORNE.
TO CURE THE HORN, verb. phr. (venery).—To copulate. See HORN, subs., sense 3. For synonyms, see GREENS and RIDE.
TO HAVE THE HORN, verb. phr. (venery).—See HORN, subs., sense 3.
TO COME OUT OF THE LITTLE END OF THE HORN, verb. phr. (common).—To get the worst of a bargain; to be reduced in circumstances. Also, to make much ado about nothing. Said generally of vast endeavour ending in failure. [Through some unexpected SQUEEZE (q.v.)].
1605. JONSON, CHAPMAN, and MARSTON, Eastward Hoe, i., 1. I had the home of suretiship ever before my eyes. You all know the devise of the HORNE, where the young fellow slippes in at the butte-end, and comes squesd out at the buckall.
1624. FLETCHER, A Wife for a Month, iii., 3.
| Thou wilt look to-morrow else | |
| Worse than the prodigal fool the ballad speaks of, | |
| That was squeez’d THROUGH A HORN. |
1843. W. T. PORTER, ed., The Big Bear of Arkansas, etc., p. 37. How did you make it? You didn’t COME OUT AT THE LITTLE END OF THE HORN, did you? Ibid. (1847), A Quarter Race in Kentucky, etc., p. 24. You never saw such a run of luck; everywhere I touched was pizen, and I CAME OUT OF THE LEETLE END OF THE HORN.
1891. Pall Mall Gazette, 3 July, i., 2. The ‘great Trek,’ in that expressive transatlantic phrase, has toddled OUT OF THE LITTLE END OF THE HORN.
