different between unisus vs alicorn

English

Etymology

Blend of unicorn +? Pegasus

Noun

unisus (plural unisi)

1. (informal) A winged unicorn.
   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:unisus.

Synonyms

• (winged unicorn): pegasus, pegacorn (informal), unipeg (informal), alicorn (nonstandard)

See also

• alicorn (horn of a unicorn)

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?æ.l?.k??n/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?æ.l?.k??n/
• Hyphenation: al?i?corn

Etymology 1

From Italian alicorno.

Noun

alicorn (plural alicorns)

1. (now historical) The horn of a unicorn considered as a medical or pharmacological ingredient.

   • He admits that powdered alicorn will delay the death of a poisoned pigeon, but says that any other horn will do the same thing by retarding assimilation.

   • "This happens to be my last voyage. But even so, I intend no coercion. If he does not value the alicorn to the extent of ten thousand Spanish dollars, I'll keep it myself. I'm rather fond of the thing. You see, it's a genuine unicorn's horn, and they're exceedingly few."

   • Two kinds were on the market: Unicornum Verum (Alicorn), thought to be Mammoth Tusk, and Unicornum Falsum, Narwhal tusks.

   • What a fabulous beast was the mythical unicorn — with its horse's head and hoofs, and a single horn, the alicorn, growing out of its forehead.

   • The horn of the male narwhal, which sailors called the unicorn of the sea, is thought to have been the unicorn's horn, or alicorn, of medieval commerce. It was very widely believed that alicorn could be used to detect poisons, and when ground and added to a potion would prevent poisoning.

   • Tests to verify the authenticity of alicorn—most of which involved placing spiders near the horn and observing their reactions—were numerous, but apparently few detected bogus horn, for narwhal tusks, masquerading as unicorn horn, made their way into shops across Europe.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:alicorn.

Etymology 2

Term already associated with unicorns and reinterpreted as a blend of Latin ?la (“wing”) with unicorn, popularized by Bearing an Hourglass (1984) and other fantasy novels by Piers Anthony.

Noun

alicorn (plural alicorns)

1. (nonstandard) A mythological creature, a mixture of pegasus and unicorn: a winged horse with a single horn on its head.
   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:alicorn.

Synonyms

• (winged horse): pegacorn, unipeg, unisus (all informal)

References

Anagrams

• Clarion, Locrian, acrinol, carolin, clairon, clarino, clarion