U"ni*corn (?), n. [OE. unicorne, F. unicorne, L. unicornis one-horned, having a single horn; unus one + cornu a horn; cf. L. unicornuus a unicorn. See One, and Horn.]
1.
A fabulous animal with one horn; the monoceros; -- often represented in heraldry as a supporter.
2.
A two-horned animal of some unknown kind, so called in the Authorized Version of the Scriptures.
Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow?
Job xxxix. 10.
⇒ The unicorn mentioned in the Scripture was probably the urus. See the Note under Reem.
3. Zool. (a)
Any large beetle having a hornlike prominence on the head or prothorax.
(b)
The larva of a unicorn moth.
4. Zool.
The kamichi; -- called also unicorn bird.
5. Mil.
A howitzer.
[Obs.]
Fossil unicorn, ∨ Fossil unicorn's horn Med., a substance formerly of great repute in medicine; -- named from having been supposed to be the bone or the horn of the unicorn. -- Unicorn fish, Unicorn whale Zool., the narwhal. -- Unicorn moth Zool., a notodontian moth (Celodasys unicornis) whose caterpillar has a prominent horn on its back; -- called also unicorn prominent. -- Unicorn root Bot., a name of two North American plants, the yellow-flowered colicroot (Aletris farinosa) and the blazing star (Chamaelirium luteum). Both are used in medicine. -- Unicorn shell Zool., any one of several species of marine gastropods having a prominent spine on the lip of the shell. Most of them belong to the genera Monoceros and Leucozonia.
© Webster 1913.