ˌkȯ(r)n(y)əˈkōpēə sometimes -nēˈk- or -niˈk- noun
( -s )
Etymology: Late Latin, from Latin cornu copiae horn of plenty, from cornu horn + copiae, gen. of copia abundance, plenty — more at copious
1. : a curved goat's horn from the mouth of which fruit and ears of grain overflow used as a decorative motif in art, architecture, and design (as on furniture, porcelain, and silverwork), emblematic of abundance, and representing the horn of the Greek nymph Amalthea that was endowed with the virtue of becoming filled with whatever its possessor wished — called also horn of plenty
2. : something that produces an overflowing and inexhaustible supply especially of desirable things
American consumption … allows mass production to continue with safety its outpouring of goods from its miraculous cornucopia — P.M.Mazur
: an inexhaustible store : abundance
a pair of books that … add up to a 550-page cornucopia of humor — Bernard Kalb
3. : a receptacle shaped like a horn or cone (as a paper horn filled with candy or a pastry filled with whipped cream)
4. : a protrusion of the choroid plexus into each lateral recess of the fourth ventricle of the brain
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