Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A mound of stones erected as a memorial or marker.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A heap of stones; especially, one of a class of large heaps of stones common in Great Britain, particularly in Scotland and Wales, and generally of a conical form.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A rounded or conical heap of stones erected by early inhabitants of the British Isles, apparently as a sepulchral monument.
- noun A pile of stones heaped up as a landmark, or to arrest attention, as in surveying, or in leaving traces of an exploring party, etc.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A rounded or conical heap of stones erected by early inhabitants of the British Isles, apparently as a sepulchral monument.
- noun A pile of stones heaped up as a landmark, to guide travelers on land or at sea, or to arrest attention, as in surveying, or in leaving traces of an exploring party, etc.
- noun A
cairn terrier .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a mound of stones piled up as a memorial or to mark a boundary or path
- noun small rough-haired breed of terrier from Scotland
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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Ah, woe! the cairn is over Conn – his hundred battles done,
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i met her in cairn's, once, some years ago! really nice woman.
Portland Soapers Unite Swap Anne-Marie 2008
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It may refer to the cairn thrown over the mythical giant Rhitta Gawr after his defeat by King Arthur.
For the record 2011
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Building the cairn was a fine warming jab, but the ice on our whiskers often took some ten minutes thawing out.
South: the story of Shackleton’s last expedition 1914–1917 2006
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Here stood an emblem of the sun, and on the cairn was a sacred fire, which had been kept burning through the year.
Our Holidays Their Meaning and Spirit; retold from St. Nicholas Various
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It is curious that the drift to leeward of the cairn, that is
The Worst Journey in the World Antarctic 1910-1913 Apsley Cherry-Garrard 1922
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First, the causeways may have probably been made "during the construction of the tower with its central pole," (here the cairn is a habitable beacon, habitable on all hypotheses,) or, again,
The Clyde Mystery a Study in Forgeries and Folklore Andrew Lang 1878
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Surmounting the cairn was a cross of cedar, inscribed with the words: “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”
The Great Salt Lake Trail Henry Inman 1868
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Now there is very little that can be called conventional in a mere stone pillar, or in a cairn, that is, an artificial heap of stones.
Chips From A German Workshop. Vol. III. Essays on Literature, Biography, and Antiquities 1861
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A cairn is a heap of stones, such as is reared in the mountains of Scotland and of Switzerland by the voluntary additions of every passer by, to commemorate a spot marked as the scene of some accident or disaster.
Darius the Great Makers of History Jacob Abbott 1841
roseandivy commented on the word cairn
Aren't cairns also connected to Hermes in Greek mythology?
April 9, 2008
reallifepixel commented on the word cairn
Wikipedia: cairn
January 18, 2009