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# horny

«horny» in Mova's school dictionary: **Hard, rough and tough like horn: horny skin, a horny beak** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

adjective (horny, hornier, horniest)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Hard, rough and tough like horn: horny skin, a horny beak. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/horny/#m1)

2) Having horns: horny-headed. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/horny/#m2)

3) (rude, adult slang) a rude word grown-ups use; not for school or for children to use. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/horny/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In science and nature lessons: a turtle's horny beak, horny plates on reptiles, horny skin on feet. The slang sense is adult and rude, so in a school text it usually means hard like horn. Phrases: a horny beak, horny scales.

### examples

- Turtles have no teeth, only a horny beak. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/horny/#x1)
- The gardener's hands were horny from years of work. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/horny/#x2)
- Rhino horn is made of a horny material like fingernails. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/horny/#x3)
- Reptiles are covered in horny scales. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/horny/#x4)
- Horny skin on your heel can be softened with cream. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/horny/#x5)
- The beetle has a horny shell. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/horny/#x6)

### note

Trap: in modern everyday English the slang (adult) meaning is common, so people may giggle; in science the word means hard like horn. Safer school words: hard, tough, keratin.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «horny» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/horny/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.