Etymology Borrowed from Latin bicornis (“two-horned; two-pronged”). Compare French bicorne (“two-cornered hat; two-horned monster”) and Middle English bicorne (“two-horned anvil; two-pronged fork; fabulous (two-horned) beast”). Doublet of bicorne.
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Historical A two-cornered hat, worn by European and American military and naval officers from the 1790s.
Just last Sunday, one of the estimated 20 surviving bicorne hats worn by Napoleon was sold at auction for €1.9mn, a price that vindicates the famous epigram, attributed to the emperor among others, that there is but one step separating the sublime from the ridiculous.2023 November 25, Simon Schama, “Napoleon and the mythmakers”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1:
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Mathematics, Sciences A plane curve having two cusps.
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Rare A beast having two horns, either real or fictional.
What a stir about nothing! Phenicopter is no more (pace Dr Septimus Wind and his eyriecal friend, Dr Eagles) than the common flamingo (simplex). Why ask such silly questions? What, for example, is a caterpillar? and why so denominated? There is the common quail as there is the common flag-beetle. A king (or queen) fisher might devour eaglets, but what is that to the spider in ordinary? and what has the spider to do with the Neapolitan tarentella? Unicorns and bicorns may be gregarious without even subterfuge or sideral ornament.1882 July 8, “To Correspondents”, in The Musical World, volume LX, number 27, London: […] Duncan Davison & Co., […], page 416, column 1:
But as far as horned species are concerned, if these natural defences were the result of buntings, we should have races of unicorns, not bicorns, that is, the horns ought to have shot out on the spots of the natural “stimulus” from the foreheads, not from the sides!1897 June 11, A. C. R., “Horns”, in Live Stock Journal, volume XLV, number 1210, London: Vinton and Company, […], page 726, column 1:
4 more examples
Buttings and batterings mean that the points of impact would be the frontal portion of the skull, so that if such batterings and buttings had anything to do with the inducing the flow of blood thereto and the consequent inducement of growth, the result would have been unicorns, not bicorns in which the horns appeared at points not affected by the impacts.1927 July, Robert C. M. Auld, “Polled and Horned Cattle”, in The Journal of Heredity, volume 18, number 7, page 313, columns 1–2:
Oooh, look, powdered horn of a Bicorn – don’t know where we’re going to get that …1998 July 2, J. K. Rowling [pseudonym; Joanne Rowling], “The Rogue Bludger”, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter; 2), London: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:
Along with the unicorns, came the half-breed and mutated forms of unicorn: the bicorns and tricorns, and all the different breeds of ridgebacks, split-hooves, and pegasus.2007, Grace Fleming, The Travels of Fiere, Waxhaw, N.C.: Otherland Books, →ISBN, page 67:
Fig. 10.1 shows images of some apparently one-horned animals made by the ancient inhabitants of Persia (Iran and environs; 10. 1a), Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, along with parts of Syria, Turkey and Iran; 10.1b) and the Indus Valley (10.1c). They illustrate a venerable controversy: are we looking at unicorns, or bicorns in profile?2009, Chris Lavers, The Natural History of Unicorns, New York, N.Y.: Harper Perennial, published 2010, →ISBN, page 218:
Etymology Borrowed from Latin bicornis (“two-horned; two-pronged”). Compare French bicorne (“two-cornered hat; two-horned monster”) and Middle English bicorne (“two-horned anvil; two-pronged fork; fabulous (two-horned) beast”). Doublet of bicorne.