Harts″horn′ (–hôrn′), n. 1. The horn or antler of the hart, or male red deer.
2. Spirits of hartshorn (see below); volatile salts.
Hartshorn plantain(Bot.), an annual species of plantain (Plantago Coronopus); — called also buck's-horn. Booth. — Hartshorn shavings, originally taken from the horns of harts, are now obtained chiefly by planing down the bones of calves. They afford a kind of jelly. Hebert. — Salt of hartshorn(Chem.), an impure solid carbonate of ammonia, obtained by the destructive distillation of hartshorn, or any kind of bone; volatile salts. Brande & C. — Spirits of hartshorn(Chem.), a solution of ammonia in water; — so called because formerly obtained from hartshorn shavings by destructive distillation. Similar ammoniacal solutions from other sources have received the same name.