Definition of "thorn"

thorn

/θɔːn/

noun
plural thorns
1. (botany) A sharp protective spine of a plant.
2. Any shrub or small tree that bears thorns, especially a hawthorn.
3. (figurative) That which pricks or annoys; anything troublesome.
  Quotations
  There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 2 Corinthians 12:7
  The guilt of empire, all its thorns and cares, / Be only mine.
  1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, 6th edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727
4. A letter of Latin script (capital: Þ, small: þ), borrowed from the futhark; today used only in Icelandic to represent the voiceless dental fricative, but originally used in several early Germanic scripts, including Old English where it represented the dental fricatives that are today written th (Old English did not have phonemic voicing distinctions for fricatives).
verb
third-person singular simple present thorns, present participle thorning, simple past and past participle thorned
1. To pierce with, or as if with, a thorn (sharp pointed object).
  Quotations
  […] human nature is, above all things, lazy, and needs to be thorned and goaded up those heights where it ought to fly.
  1869, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Old Town Folks‎
  Even Judge Bradley's callused sentiments were thorned by the narration of Jaclyn's journals.
  2003, Scott D. Zachary, Scorn This, page 175

Definition of "thorn"

thorn

noun

Quotations

verb

Quotations