thorn Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun something that causes irritation and annoyance
    irritant.
    • he's a thorn in my flesh
  2. noun a small sharp-pointed tip resembling a spike on a stem or leaf
    pricker; spine; prickle; spikelet; sticker.
  3. noun a Germanic character of runic origin

WordNet

Thorn noun
Etymology
AS. þorn; akin to OS. & OFries. thorn, D. doorn, G. dorn, Dan. torn, Sw. törne, Icel. þorn, Goth. þaúrnus; cf. Pol. tarn, Russ. tern' the blackthorn, ternie thorns, Skr. t&rsdot;&nsdot;a grass, blade of grass. *53.
Definitions
  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 Cratægus, 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 transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To prick, as with a thorn. Poetic
    I am the only rose of all the stock That never thorn'd him. Tennyson.

Webster 1913