1693. Congreve, Old Bachelor, iv., 22. Ay, I feel it here; I sprout; I bud; I blossom; I am ripe horn-mad.
1694. Congreve, Double Dealer, iv., 20. She forks out cuckoldom with her fingers, and you are running horn-mad after your fortune.
1695. Congreve, Love for Love, v., 8. She’s mad for a husband, and he’s horn-mad. [[356]]
1698. Farquhar, Love and a Bottle, iv., 3. Thou’rt horn-mad. Prithee, leave impertinence.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxvi. Ye might as well expect brandy from beanstalks, or milk from a crag of blue whunstane. The man is mad, horn-mad, to boot.
1825. Harriette Wilson, Memoirs, ii. 228. The little he did say was chiefly on the subject of cuckolds and cuckolding. His lordship was horn-mad.
2. (venery).—Sexually excited; lecherous; musty (q.v.). Also, Horny.
Hornswoggle, subs. (American).—Nonsense; humbug (q.v.). For synonyms, see Gammon.
Verb (American).—To humbug; to delude; to seduce.—Slang, Jargon, and Cant. Cf., In a horn.