Thorn

Thorn - (Easton's Bible Dictionary)

(1.) Heb. hedek (Prov. 15:19), rendered "brier" in Micah 7:4. Some thorny plant, of the Solanum family, suitable for hedges. This is probably the so-called "apple of Sodom," which grows very abundantly in the Jordan valley. "It is a shrubby plant, from 3 to 5 feet high, with very branching stems, thickly clad with spines, like those of the English brier, with leaves very large and woolly on the under side, and thorny on the midriff."

(2.) Heb. kotz (Gen. 3:18; Hos. 10:8), rendered akantha by the LXX. In the New Testament this word akantha is also rendered "thorns" (Matt. 7:16; 13:7; Heb. 6:8). The word seems to denote any thorny or prickly plant (Jer. 12:13). It has been identified with the Ononis spinosa by some.

(3.) Heb. na'atzutz (Isa. 7:19; 55:13). This word has been interpreted as denoting the Zizyphus spina Christi, or the jujube-tree. It is supposed by some that the crown of thorns placed in wanton cruelty by the Roman soldiers on our Saviour's brow before his crucifixion was plaited of branches of this tree. It overruns a great part of the Jordan valley. It is sometimes called the lotus-tree. "The thorns are long and sharp and recurved, and often create a festering wound." It often grows to a great size. (See CROWN OF [632]THORNS.)

(4.) Heb. atad (Ps. 58:9) is rendered in the LXX. and Vulgate by Rhamnus, or Lycium Europoeum, a thorny shrub, which is common all over Palestine. From its resemblance to the box it is frequently called the box-thorn.

Thorn - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

THORN, n.

1. A tree or shrub armed with spines or sharp ligneous shoots; as the black thorn; white thorn, _c. The word is sometimes applied to a bush with prickles; as a rose on a thorn.

2. A sharp ligneous or woody shoot from the stem of a tree or shrub; a sharp process from the woody part of a plant; a spine. Thorn differs from prickle; the latter being applied to the sharp points issuing from the bark of a plant and not attached to the wood, as in the rose and bramble. But in common usage, thorn is applied to the prickle of the rose, and in fact the two words are used promiscuously.

3. Any thing troublesome. St. Paul had a thorn in the flesh. 2 Cor 12. Num 33.

4. In Scripture, great difficulties and impediments.

I will hedge up thy way with thorns. Hosea 2.

5. Worldly cares; things which prevent the growth of good principles. Mat 13.

THORN'-APPLE, n. [thorn and apple.] A plant of the genus Datura; a popular name of the Datura Stramonium, or apple of Peru.

THORN'-BACK, n. [thorn and back.] A fish of the ray kind, which has prickles on its back.

THORN'-BUSH, n. A shrub that produces thorns.

THORN'-BUT, n. A fish, a but or turbot.

THORN'-HEDGE, n. [thorn and hedge.] A hedge or fence consisting of thorn.