/yooh"ni kawrn'/ , n.
1. a mythical creature resembling a horse, with a single horn in the center of its forehead: often symbolic of chastity or purity.
2. a heraldic representation of this animal, in the form of a horse with a lion's tail and with a long, straight, and spirally twisted horn.
3. ( cap. ) Astron. the constellation Monoceros.
4. an animal mentioned in the Bible, Deut. 33:17: now believed by some to be a description of a wild ox or rhinoceros.
5. a former gold coin of Scotland, first issued by James III in 1486, having an obverse bearing the figure of a unicorn.
[ 1175-1225; ME unicorne ( unicornis one-horned, equiv. to uni- UNI- + corn ( u ) HORN + -is adj. suffix ]