English Explanatory Dictionary

cannon

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A complete assembly, consisting of an artillery tube and a breech mechanism, firing mechanism or base cap, which is a component of a gun, howitzer or mortar, which may include muzzle appendages.
  2. Any similar device for shooting material out of a tube.
  3. An autocannon.
  4. A bone of a horse’s leg, between the fetlock joint and the knee or hock.
  5. A rolled and filleted loin of meat.
  6. A cannon bit.
  7. A large muzzle-loading artillery piece.
  8. A carom.
  9. The arm of a player who can throw well.
  10. A hollow cylindrical piece carried by a revolving shaft, on which it may, however, revolve independently.
  11. A cylindrical item of plate armor protecting the arm, particularly one of a pair of such cylinders worn with a couter, the upper cannon protecting the upper arm and the lower cannon protecting the forearm.
  12. Alternative form of canon (“a large size of type”).
verb
  1. To bombard with cannons.
  2. To play the carom billiard shot; to strike two balls with the cue ball.
  3. To fire something, especially spherical, rapidly.
  4. To collide or strike violently, especially so as to glance off or rebound.
noun
  1. Misspelling of canon.
adj
  1. Misspelling of canon.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

kăn'ən /ˈkæn.ən/ En-us-cannon.ogg /ˈkænən/

Word forms

cannon cannons cannoning cannoned Channon

Etymology

Attested from around 1400 as Middle English canon, canoun, from Old French canon, from Italian cannone, from Latin canna, from Ancient Greek κάννα (kánna, “reed”), from Akkadian 𒄀 (qanû, “reed”), from Sumerian 𒄀𒈾 (gi.na). Doublet of canyon. This spelling was not fixed until about 1800.

Synonyms

gun

Derived words

autocannon calcium cannon cannonade cannon ball cannonball cannon-ball cannon bit cannon bone cannon box cannon cocker cannon cracker cannoneer cannoner cannon fodder cannon-fodder cannon game cannonlike cannon lock cannon metal cannon pinion cannonproof cannon roll cannonry cannon shot chicken cannon custard cannon demi-cannon glass cannon hand cannon loose cannon megacannon noob cannon nursery cannon potato cannon slum cannon snow cannon spool cannon supercannon Vulcan cannon water cannon Cannon County Cannonism
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