Green’s Dictionary of Slang

indulging in cuckoldry.

1842

Wkly Rake (NY) 27 Aug. n.p.: Look out, or your head may be as horn-y as your lady’s other affair .

(W.I.) the offspring of an adulterous relationship.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

see separate entry.

a married man.

1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1937–84		Partridge DSUE (1984) 570/1: C.18.

cuckolded.

1646		Parliament of Women B4: You speak wel in that said Mrs. Bridget Bold-face for why should we toyl and turmoyl for our horn-headed and hard-headed husbands.
1680		Winstanley Wit, mirth, and jollity 122: I know not which lead most unnatural lives, / Horn-headed husbands, or light wag-tayl’d wives.
1699		E. Ward A walk to Islington 14: Europa bestriding a God like a Bull; / From whence City Dames first were taught the ill uses / Of Riding and Ruling their Horn-Headed Spouses.
1700		E. Ward A frolick to Horn-fair 7: Citizens and their Mates, Swarm now to the Water-side, in order to take Boat for the Horn-headed Rendezvouz at Charlton.

one who cuckolds.

1600		Shakespeare As You Like It IV i: Virtue is no horn-maker.
a.1640		R. Brome New Academy V i: But perhaps you ha’ got / Some new found Horn-maker.
1658		Ovid’s Invective [trans.] n.p.: Cornificus; (a fit name for a Horn-maker) had in his absence solicited his wife.
1660		T. Pecke Parnassi puerperium 25: Albin surpris’d his Horn-maker, at home.

cuckoldry; also attrib.

1607		Rowlands Diogenes Lanthorne 9: If the dogge could speake he would beare witnes against his maister for horne worke that he hath seene wrought by his mystris in her chamber.
1619		Rowlands Well met Gossip n.p.: Euery night they sleepe in Horne-work caps.
1678		Dryden Kind Keeper V i: jud.: If her Husband shou’d come back, he may think her still abroad, and you may have time -- wood.: To take in the Horn-work.
1751		Smollett Peregrine Pickle (1964) 641: Had my head been fortified with a horn-work, I should not have been so sensible of the stroke.
1759–67		Sterne Tristram Shandy (1949) 136: Nor have the horn-works, he speaks of, any thing in the world to do with the horn-works of cuckoldom.
1785		L. Macnally Fashionable Levities I i: Horn work—Eh?
c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: Horn Work. Cuckold making.
1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn).
1813		Moore Poems ‘Re-inforcements for the Duke’ iii 209: Old H--df--t at horn-works again might be tried [F&H].
1822		‘A. Burton’ My Cousin in the Army 67: Now th’ horn-work storms behind the curtain.

to be a cuckold, to be cuckolded.

c.1709		‘The Hopeful Bargain’ in Farmer Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) IV 208: She [...] left the poor Cuckold alone in the House, / That he by himself his Horn might blow.
1719		in D’Urfey Pills to Purge Melancholy V 259: She [...] left the poor Cuckold alone in the House, / That he by himself his Horn might blow.

to cuckold.

c.1520		The Boke of Mayd Emlyn line 44: Whan she saw her tyme, And with a prety gynne Gyue her husbande an horne.
1599		Jonson Every Man Out of his Humour V vii: Remember you are a woman, turn impudent; give him not the head, though you give him the horns.
1604		Marlowe Tragical Hist. of Dr. Faustus I i: I see thou hast a wife, that not only gives thee horns, but makes thee wear them.
1664		T. Killigrew Comdies and tragedies 327: Ha, the Furb has a mind to give horns to his Generals Ghost.
1933		N. West Miss Lonelyhearts in Coll. Works (1975) 231: No matter how hard he begged her to give Shrike horns, she refused to sleep with him.

to become the victim of cuckoldry.

c.1580		‘I.T.’ Grim The Collier of Croydon III i: My Head groweth hard, my Horns will shortly spring, Now who may lead the Cuckold’s dance but I?
1606		Wily Beguiled 16: A horne plague of this money, / For it causes many hornes to bud: / And for money many men are hornd.
1611		Chapman May-Day III i: Quintiliano is now carousing in the Emperor’s Head, while his own head buds horns to carouse.
1633		Massinger Guardian III vi: Horns upon horns grow on him.
c.1800		‘John Anderson My Jo’ in Bold (1979) 120: Or ye shall have the horns, John, / Upon your head to grow; / And that’s the cuckold’s mallison, / John Anderson, my jo.

1. a promiscuous wife.

1890–1904

Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

2. a cuckold.

1890–1904

Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

to make someone into a cuckold.

1766		Midnight Spy 124: She esteems it an indispensable part of her duty to plant the horns.
1820		Morn. Chron. (London) 30 Nov. 2/4: But since the king’s spouse can plant horns on his brows [etc.].
1843		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 21 Jan. n.p.: [They] planted hornes [sic] upon their spouses’ heads [...] and boasted their infidelity.

to make someone into a cuckold.

1957

M. Shulman Rally Round the Flag, Boys! (1959) 92: It was one thing to put horns on your wife when it happened quite unexpectedly.

1. to cuckold.

1934		W.R. Burnett Goodbye to the Past 193: She’s put many a pair of horns on Tate. It’s common knowledge. But he’s so damn crazy about her he just keeps on.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 170/2: Put the horns on. 1. To cheat.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 49: Whose old lady ain’t putting the horns on who.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.

2. to jinx, to give bad luck.

1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 170/2: Put the horns on. [...] 2. To jinx: to give one bad luck.
1955		B. Appel Tough Guy [ebook] ‘Who wants-a see me put the horns on that ole witch?’.
1961		J. Scarne Complete Guide to Gambling 688: Put the Horns On – to try to influence one’s luck by changing position at a table, carrying a rabbit’s foot, or using any other superstitious device.

(W.I.) to accept that one’s partner is having/has had an affair without making an issue out of it.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

to be cuckolded.

1601		Marston Jacke Drums Entertainment Act V: The leaue proud scorne, And honest selfe made Cuckold, weare the horne.
1656		E. Gayton Wit Revived 6: Q. Why is the husband said to weare hornes, and not the wife?
1664		Bull-feather Hall 5: [T]he reason I say that they are said to wear Horns [is] an handsome Woman to his Wife, that will be as willing to entertain, as he to conceal and wink at the actions of amorous visitants.
1672		‘As I Lay Musing’ in Farmer Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) II 64: If right, the woman should wear the horn: / And if each Cuckold his horns should wear, / I should shrewdly fear, / It would be strange to see / Men without horns appear.
1684		Miscellany 143: For shame be no Accomplice in my Treason, / A Pimping Husband is too much in reason / Once more wear horns before I quite forsake her, / In hopes whereof I rest thy Cuckold-maker.
1696		The Unhappy conqueror 39: Laugh on, Laugh on, some rich Men wear Asses Ears, and some wear Horns, and ’gad I don't know which is the more ugly sight o’ the two.
1705–07		N. Ward Hudibras Redivivus I:4 4: While Feet, as well as Heads, wear Horns.
1763		Oxford Jrnl 5 May 1/1: The wanton Wife will let the poor Man wear his Horn on his Head with Peace and Quiet.
1768		Kentish Gaz. 25 June 4/3: ‘Of Cursing Cuckolds’ A Lord that talk’d of late with idle scorn, / Of some that wore invisbly the horn' / Said ‘he could wish [...] all Cuckolds in the Thames’ [etc.].
1802		Morn. Post (London) 22 Dec. 3/2: The Lady’s conduct, her gallantries, at Brighton last summer, have come to his Lordship’s ears, and [...] he has no desire to wear horns.
1810		Kentish Gaz. 28 Sept. 4/5: Wit in placards the hat adorns ... / of husbands, proud to wear their horns.
1817		Lancaster Gaz. 27 Sept. 4/1: ’Tis no new thing for lovers to wear horns.
1832		Satirist (London) 23 Dec. 413/1: Of cattle wearing horns the list, / Was really quite amazing.
1835		York Herald 24 Oct. 4/6: A peculiar method of proving their attachment to the marriage state, by running away so frequently with each other’s wives. The husbands, who lose their wives, wear horns.
1839		Crim.-Con. Gaz. 13 Apr. 113/1: We are convinced our friend will soon have a pair of antlers to wear.
1843		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 21 Jan. n.p.: He beheld enough to satisfy him that he wore horns.
1856		Morn. Chron. (London) 19 Dec. 5/6: We think he is called on somewhat too often to wear the imaginary horns.
1866		Dublin Eve. Mail 16 Jan. 1/5: You that would not willingly wear horns. The surest way not to be a cuckold is never to marry.
1898		Binstead & Wells Pink ’Un and Pelican 256: It was the old, old story of a married woman, an unmarried man, and a husband who objected to wear antlers.
1908		H. Lawson ‘Their Mate’s Honour’ in Roderick (1972) 759: You dinna ken how many men / Should wear their horns for me!
1942		H. Miller Roofs of Paris (1983) 125: Why a cunt as handsome as she is with cash in the bank, should have picked this bearded flea [...] Possibly it’s because he wears his horns so casually.
1955		‘Bailey Morgan’ ‘Dig that Crazy Corpse’ in Pursuit Mar. (2008) 159: Mrs. Tucker was the co-respondent [...] Gizmo Tucker [was] not only the wearer of big ears but the wearer of big horns, right in the middle of his forehead.