Unicorn
Unicorn , noun
[Old English unicorne, French unicorne, Latin unicornis one-horned, having a single horn; unus one + cornu a horn; compare Latin unicornuus a unicorn. See One, and Horn.]
1.
A fabulous animal with one horn; the monoceros; -- often represented in heraldry as a supporter.
2.
A two-horned animal of some unknown kind, so called in the Authorized Version of the Scriptures.
Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow?
The unicorn mentioned in the Scripture was probably the urus. See the Note under Reem.
3.
(a) (Zoology) Any large beetle having a hornlike prominence on the head or prothorax.
(b)
(Zoology) The larva of a unicorn moth.
4.
(Zoology) The kamichi; -- called also unicorn bird.
5.
(Military) A howitzer. [Obsolete]
Collocations (5)
Fossil unicorn or Fossil unicorn's horn (Medicine) , a substance formerly of great repute in medicine; -- named from having been supposed to be the bone or the horn of the unicorn.
Unicorn fish or Unicorn whale (Zoology) , the narwhal.
Unicorn moth (Zoology) , a notodontian moth (Coelodasys unicornis) whose caterpillar has a prominent horn on its back; -- called also unicorn prominent.
Unicorn root (Botany) , a name of two North American plants, the yellow-flowered colicroot (Aletris farinosa) and the blazing star (Chamaelirium luteum). Both are used in medicine.
Unicorn shell (Zoology) , any one of several species of marine gastropods having a prominent spine on the lip of the shell. Most of them belong to the genera Monoceros and Leucozonia.