CAIRN DEFINITIONS - 11 definitions found
cairn n 1: a mound of stones piled up as a memorial or to mark a boundary or path 2: small rough-haired breed of terrier from Scotland [syn: cairn, cairn terrier] cairn 1535, from Scottish carne, from Gael. carn "heap of stones, rocky hill," akin to Gaul. karnon "horn," from PIE base *ker-n- "highest part of the body, horn," thus "tip, peak." Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition (2003) cairn noun Etymology: Middle English (Scots) carne, from Scottish Gaelic carn; akin to Old Irish & Welsh carn cairn Date: 15th century a heap of stones piled up as a memorial or as a landmark • cairned adjective Oxford English Reference Dictionary
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner\'s English Dictionary cairn (cairns) A cairn is a pile of stones which marks a boundary, a route across rough ground, or the top of a mountain. A cairn is sometimes also built in memory of someone. N-COUNT English Explanatory Dictionary cairn kɛən n. 1 a mound of rough stones as a monument or landmark. 2 (in full cairn terrier) a a small terrier of a breed with short legs, a longish body, and a shaggy coat (perhaps so called from its being used to hunt among cairns). b this breed. [Gael. carn] English-Old English dictionary cairn The Nuttall Encyclopaedia (1907) Cairn a heap of stones often, though not always, loosely thrown together, generally by way of a sepulchral monument, and it would seem sometimes in execration of some foul deed. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Cairn \Cairn\, n. [Gael. carn, gen. cairn, a heap: cf. Ir. & W. carn.] 1. A rounded or conical heap of stones erected by early inhabitants of the British Isles, apparently as a sepulchral monument. Now here let us place the gray stone of her cairn. --Campbell. 2. 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. --C. Kingsley. Kane. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 67 Moby Thesaurus words for "cairn": arch, barrow, bench mark, bookmark, boundary stone, brass, bust, catstone, cenotaph, column, cromlech, cross, cup, cyclolith, dolmen, footstone, grave, gravestone, headstone, hoarstone, inscription, landmark, lighthouse, lightship, mark, marker, mausoleum, megalith, memento, memorial, memorial arch, memorial column, memorial statue, memorial stone, menhir, milepost, milestone, monolith, monument, mound, necrology, obelisk, obituary, pharos, pillar, plaque, platform, prize, pyramid, reliquary, remembrance, ribbon, rostral column, seamark, shaft, shrine, stela, stone, stupa, tablet, testimonial, tomb, tombstone, tope, tower, trophy, watchtower |
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