corn

Noun

corn (usually uncountable, plural corns)

1. (Britain, uncountable) The main cereal plant grown for its grain in a given region, such as oats in parts of Scotland and Ireland, and wheat or barley in England and Wales.
   • 1847, John Mason Neale, Stories from heathen mythology and Greek history, page 115:

     Among the divinities that dwelt on Mount Olympus, none was more friendly to the husbandman than Demeter, goddess of corn.

   • 1867, Karl Marx (Samuel Moore & Edward Aveling, translators), Das Kapital‎:

     However much the individual manufacturer might give the rein to his old lust for gain, the spokesmen and political leaders of the manufacturing class ordered a change of front and of speech towards the workpeople. They had entered upon the contest for the repeal of the Corn Laws, and needed the workers to help them to victory. They promised therefore, not only a double-sized loaf of bread, but the enactment of the Ten Hours' Bill in the Free-trade millennium.

   • 1909, Johann David Wyss (Susannah Mary Paull, translator), The Swiss Family Robinson, page 462:

     I found that we had nearly a hundred bushels of corn, including wheat, maize, and barley, to add to our store.

2. (US, Canada, Australia, uncountable) Maize, a grain crop of the species Zea mays.
   • 1809, Edward Augustus Kendall, Travels Through the Northern Parts of the United States‎:

     The planting or sowing of maize, exclusively called corn, was just accomplished on the Town Hill, when I reached it.

3. A grain or seed, especially of a cereal crop.

   He paid her the nominal fee of two corns of barley.

4. A small, hard particle.
   • Bishop Hall:

     corn of sand

   • Beaumont and Fletcher:

     a corn of powder

corn (Zea mays)

Verb

corn (third-person singular simple present corns, present participle corning, simple past and past participle corned)

1. (US, Canada) to granulate; to form a substance into grains

   to corn gunpowder

2. (US, Canada) to preserve using coarse salt, e.g. corned beef
3. (US, Canada) to provide with corn (typically maize; or, in Scotland, oats) for feed

   Corn the horses.

4. (transitive) to render intoxicated

   ale strong enough to corn one

Noun

corn (plural corns)

1. A type of callus, usually on the feet or hands.
   • Shakespeare

     Welcome, gentlemen! Ladies that have their toes / Unplagued with corns, will have a bout with you.

   Synonym: clavus

Noun

corn (uncountable)

1. (US, Canada) Something (e.g. acting, humour, music, or writing) which is deemed old-fashioned or intended to induce emotion.^[1]
   • 1975, Tschirlie, Backpacker magazine,

     He had a sharp wit, true enough, but also a good, healthy mountaineer's love of pure corn, the slapstick stuff, the in-jokes that get funnier with every repetition and never amuse anybody who wasn't there.

   • 1986, Linda Martin and Kerry Segrave, Women in Comedy,

     There were lots of jokes on the show and they were pure corn, but the audience didn't mind.

   • 2007, Bob L. Cox, Fiddlin' Charlie Bowman: an East Tennessee old-time music pioneer and his musical family,

     The bulk of this humor was pure corn, but as hillbilly material it was meant to be that way.

Noun

corn (uncountable)

1. (uncountable) A type of granular snow formed by repeated melting and re-freezing, often in mountain spring conditions.

   Synonym: corn snow

Derived terms

• corn anglès
• cornar

Declension

Derived terms

Conjugation

Alternative forms

• cornaigh, cornáil

Declension

Descendants

• Middle English: corn
  • Scots: corn
  • English: corn
  • Yola: coorn

Descendants

• French: cor

Noun

corn n (plural coarne)

1. horn

Noun

Flowers of the European Cornel; Florile cornului

corn m (plural corni)

1. cornel, European cornel, Cornus mas
2. rafter (of a house)

See also

• sânger