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, 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 sits upon a pair of horns!
1700. Congreve, 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. This 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, 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. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 174. Who's the Cuckoo, 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, Tristam 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., I. 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, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
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, 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 Hd ft 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, Fortunes of Nigel, c. xxxvi. O what a generous creature is your true London husband! Horns hath he, but, tame as a fatted ox, he goreth not.
1825. Scott, 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, Vulg. 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. Hooper, 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.).
