U″ni‐corn (?), n. [OE. unicorne, F. unicorne, L. unicornis one-horned, having a single horn; unus one + cornu a horn; cf. L. unicornuus a unicorn. See One, and Horn.] 1. A fabulous animal with one horn; the monoceros; — often represented in heraldry as a supporter.
2. A two-horned animal of some unknown kind, so called in the Authorized Version of the Scriptures.
Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? Job xxxix. 10.
☞ The unicorn mentioned in the Scripture was probably the urus. See the Note under Reem.
3. (Zoöl.) (a) Any large beetle having a hornlike prominence on the head or prothorax. (b) The larva of a unicorn moth.
4. (Zoöl.) The kamichi; — called also unicorn bird.
5. (Mil.) A howitzer.
Fossil unicorn, orFossil unicorn's horn(Med.), a substance formerly of great repute in medicine; — named from having been supposed to be the bone or the horn of the unicorn. — Unicorn fish, Unicorn whale(Zoöl.), the narwhal. — Unicorn moth(Zoöl.), a notodontian moth (Cœlodasys unicornis) whose caterpillar has a prominent horn on its back; — called also unicorn prominent. — Unicorn root(Bot.), a name of two North American plants, the yellow-flowered colicroot (Aletris farinosa) and the blazing star (Chamælirium luteum). Both are used in medicine. — Unicorn shell(Zoöl.), any one of several species of marine gastropods having a prominent spine on the lip of the shell. Most of them belong to the genera Monoceros and Leucozonia.