Definitions For Slughorn

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.

Descendants

{{desc, en, slogan}} {{see desc}}

Alternative forms

sloggorne slughorne (nonstandard, rare) slug-horn

Etymology

Borrowed from {{bor, en, gd, sluagh-ghairm, t=battle cry}}. More at slogan.