[thawrn] 
| 1. | a sharp excrescence on a plant, esp. a sharp-pointed aborted branch; spine; prickle. |
| 2. | any of various thorny shrubs or trees, esp. the hawthorns belonging to the genus Crataegus, of the rose family. |
| 3. | the wood of any of these trees. |
| 4. | a runic character (þ), borrowed into the Latin alphabet and representing the initial th sounds in thin and they in Old English, or thin in modern Icelandic. |
| 5. | something that wounds, annoys, or causes discomfort. |
| 6. | to prick with a thorn; vex. |
| 7. | thorn in one's side or flesh, a source of continual irritation or suffering: That child is a thorn in the teacher's side. |
| thorn (thôrn) n.
[Middle English, from Old English.] thorn'less adj. |
| thorn (thôrn) Pronunciation Key
A short, hard, pointed part of a stem or branch of a woody plant. Compare spine. |
Thorn
(1.) Heb. hedek (Prov. 15:19), rendered "brier" in Micah 7:4. Some thorny plant, of the Solanum family, suitable for hedges. This is probably the so-called "apple of Sodom," which grows very abundantly in the Jordan valley. "It is a shrubby plant, from 3 to 5 feet high, with very branching stems, thickly clad with spines, like those of the English brier, with leaves very large and woolly on the under side, and thorny on the midriff." (2.) Heb. kotz (Gen. 3:18; Hos. 10:8), rendered _akantha_ by the LXX. In the New Testament this word _akantha_ is also rendered "thorns" (Matt. 7:16; 13:7; Heb. 6:8). The word seems to denote any thorny or prickly plant (Jer. 12:13). It has been identified with the Ononis spinosa by some. (3.) Heb. na'atzutz (Isa. 7:19; 55:13). This word has been interpreted as denoting the Zizyphus spina Christi, or the jujube-tree. It is supposed by some that the crown of thorns placed in wanton cruelty by the Roman soldiers on our Saviour's brow before his crucifixion was plaited of branches of this tree. It overruns a great part of the Jordan valley. It is sometimes called the lotus-tree. "The thorns are long and sharp and recurved, and often create a festering wound." It often grows to a great size. (See CROWN OF THORNS.) (4.) Heb. atad (Ps. 58:9) is rendered in the LXX. and Vulgate by Rhamnus, or Lycium Europoeum, a thorny shrub, which is common all over Palestine. From its resemblance to the box it is frequently called the box-thorn.
Thorn
city, one of two capitals (with Bydgoszcz) of Kujawsko-Pomorskie wojewodztwo (province), north-central Poland, on the Vistula River. A river port, rail and road junction, and cultural centre, it is the birthplace (1473) of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (Mikolaj Kopernik) and the seat of Nicolaus Copernicus University (founded 1945), as well as several scientific societies, museums, and theatres. The 13th-century Church of St. John contains one of the largest bells in Poland. Other highlights of the historic city include the ruins of a Teutonic castle and the Gothic Church of Mary. Torun's medieval legacy led UNESCO to designate it as a World Heritage site in 1997. Traditional industries include wool spinning and the baking of gingerbread; as a result of newer industrial development, Torun has become known for its precision instruments, electronics, and synthetic fibre and textiles produced at the Elana factory.
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