Meaning & use
round the Horn
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Meaning
phrasefixed phrase
Sailing around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America.
Grammar: Used as an adverbial phrase after verbs like sail, go, or come; the Horn is a proper noun and keeps its capital H.
Patterns
- sail round the Horn
- go round the Horn
- come round the Horn
In the 1800s, many ships sailed round the Horn to reach California.
The captain decided to go round the Horn rather than through the Panama Canal.
Storms made the voyage round the Horn extremely dangerous.
Common combinations
- sail round the Horn
- They sailed round the Horn in a small wooden boat.
- a voyage round the Horn
- The book describes a terrifying voyage round the Horn.
- round the Horn route
- The round the Horn route was once the only way to reach the Pacific.
Synonyms and how they differ
- via Cape Horn
- A more formal way to say the same route, often used in shipping contexts.
Commonly confused: round the Horn or around the horn?
round the Horn vs around the horn
In American English, 'around the horn' can also mean a baseball play, but 'round the Horn' specifically refers to the sea route.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'round the Horn' correctly?
Choose one answer.
The phrase refers to the sea route around Cape Horn, so 'sailed round the Horn' fits. The other options use 'round' in its ordinary sense of moving in a circle or turning, not as part of this fixed phrase.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “round the Horn”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.