crown of thorns
/ˌkɹaʊn əv ˈθɔːnz/ noun
Forms crowns of thorns
- noun (Christianity) The crown made of a thorny plant that Christ was forced to wear before his Crucifixion, in mocking reference to his alleged status as ‘king of the Jews’, or a representation of this.
- noun A spiny Mediterranean tree, Ziziphus spina-christi.
- noun A spiny spurge, Euphorbia milii, native to Madagascar.
- noun The plant Koeberlinia spinosa.
- noun A woodworking technique, used in tramp art, in which interlocking pieces are notched to intersect at right angles and form joints and self-supporting objects.
Synonyms
Etymology
Calque of Latin spinea corona, itself a calque of Hellenistic Ancient Greek ἀκάνθινος στέφανος (akánthinos stéphanos).
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “crown of thorns”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details