CORN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does corn mean? 

• CORN (noun)
  The noun CORN has 7 senses:

1. tall annual cereal grass bearing kernels on large ears: widely cultivated in America in many varieties; the principal cereal in Mexico and Central and South America since pre-Columbian times

2. the dried grains or kernels or corn used as animal feed or ground for meal

3. ears of corn that can be prepared and served for human food

4. a hard thickening of the skin (especially on the top or sides of the toes) caused by the pressure of ill-fitting shoes

5. (Great Britain) any of various cereal plants (especially the dominant crop of the region--wheat in Great Britain or oats in Scotland and Ireland)

6. whiskey distilled from a mash of not less than 80 percent corn

7. something sentimental or trite

  Familiarity information: CORN used as a noun is common.

• CORN (verb)
  The verb CORN has 2 senses:

1. feed (cattle) with corn

2. preserve with salt

  Familiarity information: CORN used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CORN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Tall annual cereal grass bearing kernels on large ears: widely cultivated in America in many varieties; the principal cereal in Mexico and Central and South America since pre-Columbian times

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

corn; Indian corn; maize; Zea mays

Hypernyms ("corn" is a kind of...):

cereal; cereal grass (grass whose starchy grains are used as food: wheat; rice; rye; oats; maize; buckwheat; millet)

Meronyms (parts of "corn"):

corn cob; corncob (the hard cylindrical core that bears the kernels of an ear of corn)

corn stalk; cornstalk (the stalk of a corn plant)

corn; edible corn (ears of corn that can be prepared and served for human food)

capitulum; ear; spike (fruiting spike of a cereal plant especially corn)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "corn"):

field corn (corn grown primarily for animal feed or market grain)

green corn; sugar corn; sweet corn; sweet corn plant; Zea mays rugosa; Zea saccharata (a corn plant developed in order to have young ears that are sweet and suitable for eating)

popcorn; Zea mays everta (corn having small ears and kernels that burst when exposed to dry heat)

Holonyms ("corn" is a member of...):

genus Zea; Zea (corn)

Derivation:

corn (feed (cattle) with corn)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The dried grains or kernels or corn used as animal feed or ground for meal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("corn" is a kind of...):

kernel (a single whole grain of a cereal)

Meronyms (substance of "corn"):

corn oil (oil from the germs of corn grains)

Derivation:

corn (feed (cattle) with corn)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Ears of corn that can be prepared and served for human food

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

corn; edible corn

Hypernyms ("corn" is a kind of...):

cereal; food grain; grain (foodstuff prepared from the starchy grains of cereal grasses)

Meronyms (parts of "corn"):

green corn; sugar corn; sweet corn; sweet corn plant; Zea mays rugosa; Zea saccharata (a corn plant developed in order to have young ears that are sweet and suitable for eating)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "corn"):

green corn; sweet corn (corn that can be eaten as a vegetable while still young and soft)

hominy (hulled corn with the bran and germ removed)

popcorn (small kernels of corn exploded by heat)

Holonyms ("corn" is a part of...):

corn; Indian corn; maize; Zea mays (tall annual cereal grass bearing kernels on large ears: widely cultivated in America in many varieties; the principal cereal in Mexico and Central and South America since pre-Columbian times)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A hard thickening of the skin (especially on the top or sides of the toes) caused by the pressure of ill-fitting shoes

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

clavus; corn

Hypernyms ("corn" is a kind of...):

callosity; callus (an area of skin that is thick or hard from continual pressure or friction (as the sole of the foot))

Sense 5

Meaning:

(Great Britain) any of various cereal plants (especially the dominant crop of the region--wheat in Great Britain or oats in Scotland and Ireland)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("corn" is a kind of...):

cereal; cereal grass (grass whose starchy grains are used as food: wheat; rice; rye; oats; maize; buckwheat; millet)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Whiskey distilled from a mash of not less than 80 percent corn

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

corn; corn whiskey; corn whisky

Hypernyms ("corn" is a kind of...):

whiskey; whisky (a liquor made from fermented mash of grain)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "corn"):

bootleg; corn liquor; moonshine (whiskey illegally distilled from a corn mash)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Something sentimental or trite

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Context example:

that movie was pure corn

Hypernyms ("corn" is a kind of...):

drippiness; mawkishness; mushiness; sentimentality; sloppiness; soupiness (falsely emotional in a maudlin way)

Derivation:

corny (dull and tiresome but with pretensions of significance or originality)

• CORN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they corn    ... he / she / it corns   
Past simple: corned   
Past participle: corned   
-ing form: corning   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Feed (cattle) with corn

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Hypernyms (to "corn" is one way to...):

feed; give (give food to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

corn (tall annual cereal grass bearing kernels on large ears: widely cultivated in America in many varieties; the principal cereal in Mexico and Central and South America since pre-Columbian times)

corn (the dried grains or kernels or corn used as animal feed or ground for meal)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Preserve with salt

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

corned beef

Hypernyms (to "corn" is one way to...):

keep; preserve (prevent (food) from rotting)

Domain category:

cookery; cooking; preparation (the act of preparing something (as food) by the application of heat)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

They found that maize, or corn, was the most susceptible to crop failure, with climate variability causing 18 per cent of growth volatility globally between 1980 and 2010.

(El Niño linked to widespread crop failures, SciDev.Net)

This system considers foods ultra-processed if they have ingredients predominantly found in industrial food manufacturing, such as hydrogenated oils, high-fructose corn syrup, flavoring agents, and emulsifiers.

(Heavily processed foods cause overeating and weight gain, National Institutes of Health)

Away ran the husband upstairs, and saw thousands of birds sitting upon the floor eating up his corn, with the sparrow in the midst of them.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

If the genetically modified corn can be successfully deployed, those who live in developing countries “wouldn't have to purchase methionine supplements or expensive foods that have higher methionine," Leustek said.

(US Researchers Genetically Modify Corn to Boost Nutritional Value, VOA News)

The other birds, seeing he was not harmed by me, came to eat the corn too, so in a short time there was a great flock of them about me.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

Maize, which we know as corn, was grown in the region as early as 2000 B.C.

(Scientists chart a baby boom in southwestern Native Americans from 500 to 1300 A.D., NSF)

Nitrogen is the main nutrient added to cereal crops like corn, which makes them grow faster and stronger.

(New Test Can Determine Nitrogen Levels in Soil, U.S. Department of Agriculture)

The scientists quantified the environmental effects in terms of critical zone services, including impacts on the atmosphere and on water quality, and looked at corn's societal value both as food and fuel.

(Corn better used as food than biofuel, National Science Foundation)

Refined corn oil is about 59% polyunsaturated fatty acid, 24% monounsaturated fatty acid, and 13% saturated fatty acid.

(Corn Oil, NCI Thesaurus)

Researchers used corn starch, an abundant, cheap and biodegradable raw material, to develop microcapsules as a container to release thyme essential oil into the water.

(Thyme oil and corn starch prove deadly for mosquito larvae, SciDev.Net)