a
reference to a drinking
vessel made from an
animal's horn which Thor, the
god of thunder in Norse (Scandinavian) mythology, used in a drinking contest with
giants. In the
myth, Thor traveled to the land of the
giants where he was challenged by their
king to prove his
legendary abilities. One of the contests Thor chose to partake in was a drinking contest. He was presented with a large horn and was told that a good drinker could empty the horn in one go, though most men take two, and the most puny drinker could do it in three. Thor took a long, deep drink without taking a breath; but when he
set the horn down and looked inside, the liquid hadn't diminished. He took another long drink, and then a third. To his
shame, the
level of liquid was only slightly lower and thus he failed in this contest. Later, the
king of the
giants admitted to Thor that he had deceived him. The
tip of the drinking horn had been placed in the ocean and Thor's great gulps had, to the
king's amazement, actually lowered the
level of the
sea.
(Norse mythology) a horn from which Thor drank as part of a drinking contest. To his
shame, he was unable to empty the horn in three draughts (swallows), only lowering its
level to just below the rim. As later came to be revealed, however, the horn had its
tip in the ocean, so that his great gulps had actually lowered the
level of the
sea.