dehornv.
1. transitive. To deprive (an animal) of horns. Also absol. and figurative.
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the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > animal keeping practices general > [verb (transitive)] > cut off tail, ears, or other bits
dockc1386
bobtail1577
dishorn1603
crop1607
strunt1828
de-tail1837
stern1858
decaudate1864
tail1886
dehorn1888
declaw1901
poll1907
defang1912
the world > action or operation > ability > inability > render unable [verb (transitive)] > render powerless
depotentiate1841
dehorn1914
1888 Voice (N.Y.) 12 Jan. 2 The champion of dehorning cattle.
1888 Missouri Republ. 15 Feb. (Farmer) Dehorning is performed when the calf is young, and the tips of the horns movable.
1889 J. S. Farmer Americanisms 197/1 The preferred age at which to dehorn is in the second year of the animal's life.
1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring & Summer 394/3 Cattle Dehorners... Newton's lately improved dehorning knife, revolving and sliding shear, each one making a draw cut.
1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. No. 104. (facing p. 33) The Adsit dehorning shears..makes a drawing cut completely encircling the horn, which it removes almost instantly.
1904 E. V. Wilcox & C. B. Smith Farmer's Cycl. Agric. 339/1 The practice of dehorning cattle is generally recommended by the experiment station.
1914 Boston Evening Transcript 6 June 2/1 Four years ago they dehorned the speaker.
1920 F. B. Hadley Princ. Vet. Sci. xiii. 260 When cattle are allowed to run together they should be dehorned.
1959 Times 27 Oct. 6/4 The high proportion of dehorned cows in the main cattle section.
1971 Guardian 20 Feb. 18/4 A cattle de-horning device.
2. Forestry. (See quots.)
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1905 Terms Forestry & Logging (Bull. U.S. Dept. Agric., Bureau Forestry, No. 61) 35 Dehorn, to saw off the ends of logs bearing the owner's mark and put on a new mark (Kentucky).
1957 Brit. Commonw. Forest Terminol.: Pt. II (Empire Forestry Assoc.) ii. 59 Dehorn, to re-mark logs for change of ownership.
3. Horticulture. (See quot. 1954.)
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1934 in Webster's New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang.
1954 A. G. L. Hellyer Encycl. Garden Work 195/1 If..fairly large branches have to be removed..this should be done either right back to the main trunk, or to a suitably placed side branch. This latter process is known as dehorning.
Derivatives
deˈhorner n. one who, or an instrument which, dehorns animals.
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1888 Voice (N.Y.) 23 Feb. 7 That enthusiastic champion of dehorning, ‘Farmer Haaf,’ will soon issue a book: ‘Every Man His own Dehorner’.
1907 Sears, Roebuck Catal. This style Dehorner in the large size will clip any size horn from cattle of any age.
1935 J. Steinbeck To God Unknown 91 To borrow a dehorner for that long-horned bull.
1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 26 Jan. 112/3 (advt.) 6-volt calf dehorner.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
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