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Cairn

//kɛən// noun

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A rounded or conical heap of stones erected by early inhabitants of the British Isles, apparently as a sepulchral monument.

    ""Now here let us place the gray stone of her cairn: / Why speak ye no word!"—said Glenara the stern."

  2. 2
    small rough-haired breed of terrier from Scotland wordnet
  3. 3
    A pile of stones heaped up as a landmark, to guide travelers on land or at sea, or to arrest attention, as in surveying, or in leaving traces of an exploring party, etc.

    "After fifteen minutes of this we were glad to reach a high saddle on which former travellers had piled little cairns of commemoration and thankfulness."

  4. 4
    a mound of stones piled up as a memorial or to mark a boundary or path wordnet
  5. 5
    A cairn terrier.

Etymology

From Scots cairn, from Scottish Gaelic càrn, from Old Irish carn, from Proto-Celtic *karnos, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- (“horn”). Compare Welsh carn, Cornish carn. Doublet of carn and horn.

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