thorn /ˈθɔrn/
 刺,荊棘;苦惱,憂慮


 Thorn n.
 1. A hard and sharp-pointed projection from a woody stem; usually, a branch so transformed; a spine.
 2. Bot. Any shrub or small tree which bears thorns; especially, any species of the genus Crataegus, as the hawthorn, whitethorn, cockspur thorn.
 3. Fig.: That which pricks or annoys as a thorn; anything troublesome; trouble; care.
    There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me.   --2 Cor. xii. 7.
 The guilt of empire, all its thorns and cares,
 Be only mine.   --Southern.
 4. The name of the Anglo-Saxon letter ░, capital form ░. It was used to represent both of the sounds of English th, as in thin, then. So called because it was the initial letter of thorn, a spine.
 Thorn apple Bot., Jamestown weed.
 Thorn broom Bot., a shrub that produces thorns.
 Thorn hedge, a hedge of thorn-bearing trees or bushes.
 Thorn devil. Zool. See Moloch, 2.
 Thorn hopper Zool., a tree hopper (Thelia crataegi) which lives on the thorn bush, apple tree, and allied trees.


 Thorn, v. t. To prick, as with a thorn. [Poetic]
 I am the only rose of all the stock
 That never thorn'd him.   --Tennyson.

 ◄ ►


 thorn
      n 1: something that causes irritation and annoyance; "he's a
           thorn in my flesh" [syn: irritant]
      2: a sharp-pointed tip on a stem or leaf [syn: spine, prickle,
          pricker, sticker]
      3: a Germanic character of runic origin


 Thorn
    (1.) Heb. hedek (Prov. 15:19), rendered "brier" in Micah 7:4.
    Some thorny plant, of the Solanum family, suitable for hedges.
    This is probably the so-called "apple of Sodom," which grows
    very abundantly in the Jordan valley. "It is a shrubby plant,
    from 3 to 5 feet high, with very branching stems, thickly clad
    with spines, like those of the English brier, with leaves very
    large and woolly on the under side, and thorny on the midriff."

      (2.) Heb. kotz (Gen. 3:18; Hos. 10:8), rendered _akantha_ by
    the LXX. In the New Testament this word _akantha_ is also
    rendered "thorns" (Matt. 7:16; 13:7; Heb. 6:8). The word seems
    to denote any thorny or prickly plant (Jer. 12:13). It has been
    identified with the Ononis spinosa by some.

      (3.) Heb. na'atzutz (Isa. 7:19; 55:13). This word has been
    interpreted as denoting the Zizyphus spina Christi, or the
    jujube-tree. It is supposed by some that the crown of thorns
    placed in wanton cruelty by the Roman soldiers on our Saviour's
    brow before his crucifixion was plaited of branches of this
    tree. It overruns a great part of the Jordan valley. It is
    sometimes called the lotus-tree. "The thorns are long and sharp
    and recurved, and often create a festering wound." It often
    grows to a great size. (See CROWN OF THORNS.)

      (4.) Heb. atad (Ps. 58:9) is rendered in the LXX. and Vulgate
    by Rhamnus, or Lycium Europoeum, a thorny shrub, which is common
    all over Palestine. From its resemblance to the box it is
    frequently called the box-thorn.