SLUGHORN

Etymology

Noun

slughorn (plural slughorns)

(obsolete) A battle cry. [early 16th C.]

(nonstandard, rare) A wind instrument.

Usage notes

• The sense “a wind instrument” is a construction due to Thomas Chatterton who used the term (incorrectly) in this way in his 1760s pseudo-Medieval poetry. He describes the fictional instrument in footnotes as “warlike instruments of music” (Ælla, a Tragycal Enterlude), “a musical instrument not unlike a hautboy” (Eclogue the Second), and “war trumpets” (Battle of Hastings (No. 2)). The term was then erroneously continued by Robert Browning in 1855. The use by Terry Pratchett in 1989 is a deliberate allusion to Chatterton's construction.

Source: Wiktionary


Slug"-horn`, a.

Definition: An erroneous form of the Scotch word slughorne, or sloggorne, meaning slogan.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

12 May 2025

UNSEASONED

(adjective) not tried or tested by experience; “unseasoned artillery volunteers”; “still untested in battle”; “an illustrator untried in mural painting”; “a young hand at plowing”


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Coffee Trivia

Coffee starts as a yellow berry, changes into a red berry, and then is picked by hand to harvest. The red berry is de-shelled through a water soaking process and what’s left inside is the green coffee bean. This bean then dries in the sun for 3-5 days, where it is then packed and ready for sale.

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