Thorn

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language

·vt To prick, as with a thorn.

II. Thorn ·noun Fig.: That which pricks or annoys as a thorn; anything troublesome; trouble; care.

III. Thorn ·noun A hard and sharp-pointed projection from a woody stem; usually, a branch so transformed; a spine.

IV. Thorn ·noun Any shrub or small tree which bears thorns; especially, any species of the genus Crataegus, as the hawthorn, whitethorn, cockspur thorn.

V. Thorn ·noun The name of the Anglo-Saxon letter, (capital form). It was used to represent both of the sounds of English th, as in thin, then. So called because it was the initial letter of thorn, a spine.