French prop. a.  Of or pertaining to France or its inhabitants.
  French bean Bot., the common kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris).
 French berry Bot., the berry of a species of buckthorn (Rhamnus catharticus), which affords a saffron, green or purple pigment.
 French casement Arch. See French window, under Window.
 French chalk Min., a variety of granular talc; -- used for drawing lines on cloth, etc. See under Chalk.
 French cowslip Bot. The Primula Auricula. See Bear's-ear.
 French fake Naut., a mode of coiling a rope by running it backward and forward in parallel bends, so that it may run freely.
 French honeysuckle Bot. a plant of the genus Hedysarum (H. coronarium); -- called also garland honeysuckle.
 French horn, a metallic wind instrument, consisting of a long tube twisted into circular folds and gradually expanding from the mouthpiece to the end at which the sound issues; -- called in France cor de chasse.
 French leave, an informal, hasty, or secret departure; esp., the leaving a place without paying one's debts.
 French pie [French (here used in sense of “foreign”) + pie a magpie (in allusion to its black and white color)] Zool., the European great spotted woodpecker (Dryobstes major); -- called also wood pie.
 French polish. (a) A preparation for the surface of woodwork, consisting of gums dissolved in alcohol, either shellac alone, or shellac with other gums added. (b) The glossy surface produced by the application of the above.
 French purple, a dyestuff obtained from lichens and used for coloring woolen and silken fabrics, without the aid of mordants. --Ure.
 French red rouge.
 French rice, amelcorn.
 French roof Arch., a modified form of mansard roof having a nearly flat deck for the upper slope.
 French tub, a dyer's mixture of protochloride of tin and logwood; -- called also plum tub. --Ure.
 French window. See under Window.


 Horn n.
 1. A hard, projecting, and usually pointed organ, growing upon the heads of certain animals, esp. of the ruminants, as cattle, goats, and the like. The hollow horns of the Ox family consist externally of true horn, and are never shed.
 2. The antler of a deer, which is of bone throughout, and annually shed and renewed.
 3. Zool. Any natural projection or excrescence from an animal, resembling or thought to resemble a horn in substance or form; esp.: (a) A projection from the beak of a bird, as in the hornbill. (b) A tuft of feathers on the head of a bird, as in the horned owl. (c) A hornlike projection from the head or thorax of an insect, or the head of a reptile, or fish. (d) A sharp spine in front of the fins of a fish, as in the horned pout.
 4. Bot. An incurved, tapering and pointed appendage found in the flowers of the milkweed (Asclepias).
 5. Something made of a horn, or in resemblance of a horn; as: (a) A wind instrument of music; originally, one made of a horn (of an ox or a ram); now applied to various elaborately wrought instruments of brass or other metal, resembling a horn in shape. “Wind his horn under the castle wall.”  --Spenser. See French horn, under French. (b) A drinking cup, or beaker, as having been originally made of the horns of cattle. “Horns of mead and ale.” --Mason. (c) The cornucopia, or horn of plenty. See Cornucopia. “Fruits and flowers from Amalthæa's horn.” --Milton. (d) A vessel made of a horn; esp., one designed for containing powder; anciently, a small vessel for carrying liquids. “Samuel took the hornof oil and anointed him [David].” --1 Sam. xvi. 13. (e) The pointed beak of an anvil. (f) The high pommel of a saddle; also, either of the projections on a lady's saddle for supporting the leg. (g) Arch. The Ionic volute. (h) Naut. The outer end of a crosstree; also, one of the projections forming the jaws of a gaff, boom, etc. (i) Carp. A curved projection on the fore part of a plane. (j) One of the projections at the four corners of the Jewish altar of burnt offering.  “Joab . . . caught hold on the horns of the altar.” --1 Kings ii. 28.
 6. One of the curved ends of a crescent; esp., an extremity or cusp of the moon when crescent-shaped.
 The moon
 Wears a wan circle round her blunted horns.   --Thomson.
 7. Mil. The curving extremity of the wing of an army or of a squadron drawn up in a crescentlike form.
 Sharpening in mooned horns
 Their phalanx.   --Milton.
 8. The tough, fibrous material of which true horns are composed, being, in the Ox family, chiefly albuminous, with some phosphate of lime; also, any similar substance, as that which forms the hoof crust of horses, sheep, and cattle; as, a spoon of horn.
 9. Script. A symbol of strength, power, glory, exaltation, or pride.
    The Lord is . . . the horn of my salvation.   --Ps. xviii. 2.
 10. An emblem of a cuckold; -- used chiefly in the plural. “Thicker than a cuckold's horn.”
 Horn block, the frame or pedestal in which a railway car axle box slides up and down; -- also called horn plate.
 Horn of a dilemma. See under Dilemma.
 Horn distemper, a disease of cattle, affecting the internal substance of the horn.
 Horn drum, a wheel with long curved scoops, for raising water.
 Horn lead Chem., chloride of lead.
 Horn maker, a maker of cuckolds. [Obs.] --Shak.
 Horn mercury. Min. Same as Horn quicksilver (below).
 Horn poppy Bot., a plant allied to the poppy (Glaucium luteum), found on the sandy shores of Great Britain and Virginia; -- called also horned poppy. --Gray.
 Horn pox Med., abortive smallpox with an eruption like that of chicken pox.
 Horn quicksilver Min., native calomel, or bichloride of mercury.
 Horn shell Zool., any long, sharp, spiral, gastropod shell, of the genus Cerithium, and allied genera.
 Horn silver Min., cerargyrite.
 Horn slate, a gray, siliceous stone.
 To pull in one's horns, To haul in one's horns, to withdraw some arrogant pretension; to cease a demand or withdraw an assertion. [Colloq.]
 To raise the horn, or To lift the horn Script., to exalt one's self; to act arrogantly. “'Gainst them that raised thee dost thou lift thy horn?” --Milton.
 To take a horn, to take a drink of intoxicating liquor. [Low]


 French horn
      n : a brass musical instrument consisting of a conical tube that
          is coiled into a spiral and played by means of valves
          [syn: horn]