Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The fruit of an oak, consisting of a single-seeded, thick-walled nut set in a woody, cuplike base.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The fruit of the oak; a one-celled, one-seeded, coriaceous, rounded or elongated nut, the base of which is surrounded by an indurated scaly cup.
- noun Nautical, a small ornamental piece of wood, of a conical or globular shape, sometimes fixed on the point of the spindle above the vane, on a masthead, to keep the vane from being blown off.
- noun Any similar ornamental tip.
- noun Same as
acorn-shell , 2.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The fruit of the oak, being an oval nut growing in a woody cup or cupule.
- noun (Naut.) A cone-shaped piece of wood on the point of the spindle above the vane, on the mast-head.
- noun (Zoöl.) See
Acorn-shell .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The
fruit of theoak , being an ovalnut growing in a woody cup orcupule . - noun nautical A cone-shaped piece of wood on the point of the spindle above the vane, on the mast-head.
- noun zoology See
acorn-shell .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun fruit of the oak tree: a smooth thin-walled nut in a woody cup-shaped base
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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No one from acorn is in jail or was even arrested.
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Oh sorry, you can only vote twice in Chicago, when acorn is involved and when it is a liberal ...
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Unless acorn is saying “opps we should not have fired them” in that case, restore their employment, and give um back pay.
A copy of the ACORN/Breitbart/O’Keefe/Giles suit… - Moe_Lane’s blog - RedState 2009
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I'm sure acorn is tied in as well as the other fringe groups. jaye
Obama uses his White House e-mail list to praise Sotomayor 2009
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Erroneous as it may be, the substitution involved more than just ignorance: an acorn is more or less shaped like an egg; and it is a seed, just like grains of corn.
Communication Maxine 2007
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Some of us, however, see biology as an unfolding of one or a few initial designs, designed to grow into the tree of life as an acorn is designed to grow into an oak.
A Message About ID 2007
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But it also makes sense; as a Pre-Plant, an acorn is like an egg, sort of.
Eggcorns: Folk Etymology Creating New Meanings Every Day 2006
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One of the highlights of the session was a spirited exchange between the University of Minnesota's Michael Stokes Paulsen and my colleage Jed Rubenfeld on the status of the fetus -- or, as they put it, over whether an acorn is an oak tree.
Balkinization 2003
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One of the highlights of the session was a spirited exchange between the University of Minnesota's Michael Stokes Paulsen and my colleage Jed Rubenfeld on the status of the fetus -- or, as they put it, over whether an acorn is an oak tree.
Balkinization 2003
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Since then the eggcorn has become something of a mascot at Language Log; today Mark discusses it further, giving the example "hand few" used for handful and quoting Geoff Pullum to the effect that "eggcorns are tiny little poems, a symptom of human intelligence and creativity," and ends with an Update mentioning a fact I should have recalled myself: the word acorn itself contains an earlier misunderstanding.
slumry commented on the word acorn
My highs chool "mascot," if you want to call it that. Imagine: "Go Acorns. Beat those tigers." How could that be?
June 30, 2007
reesetee commented on the word acorn
Don't feel too bad, slumry. My high school mascot was the beaver.
July 2, 2007
sionnach commented on the word acorn
Acorn shortage sends squirrels into a tailspin
December 2, 2008
sionnach commented on the word acorn
Apparently, the quantity of acorns has little effect on the quality of squirrel-hunting:
Abundant acorn supply could trigger squirrel boom.
Acorn shortage may mean squirrel hunts better early.
Would this be an example of elasticity or inelasticity?
December 2, 2008
hernesheir commented on the word acorn
Railway telegraphers' shorthand for "take immediate action and advise". --1906 US Railway Assn. Standard Cipher Code.
January 19, 2013