Etymology
Attested from around 1400 as Middle English canon, canoun, from Old French canon, from Italian cannone, from Latin canna, from Ancient Greek κάννα or kánna (reed), from Akkadian 𒄀 or qanû (reed), from Sumerian 𒄀𒈾 or gi.na. Doublet of canyon. This spelling was not fixed until about 1800.
Noun
cannon (countable and uncountable, plural cannons)
- 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. It may include muzzle appendages.
- Any similar device for shooting material out of a tube.
- Water cannons, glitter cannons, confetti cannons, and potato cannons.
- (military, chiefly aviation) An autocannon.
- A bone of a horse's leg, between the fetlock joint and the knee or hock.
- A cannon bit.
- (historical) A large muzzle-loading artillery piece.
- (sports, billiards, snooker, pool) A carom.
- In English billiards, a cannon is when one's cue ball strikes the other player's cue ball and the red ball on the same shot; and it is worth two points.
- (engineering) A hollow cylindrical piece carried by a revolving shaft, on which it may, however, revolve independently.
- (historical) 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.
- (xiangqi) A piece which moves horizontally and vertically like a rook but captures another piece by jumping over a different piece in the line of attack.
Derived terms
- autocannon
- cannonade
- cannonball
- cannon bit
- cannon bone
- cannoneer
- cannon shot
- hand cannon
- water cannon
Verb
cannon (third-person singular simple present cannons, present participle cannoning, simple past and past participle cannoned)
- To bombard with cannons.
- (sports, billiards, snooker, pool) To play the carom billiard shot; to strike two balls with the cue ball.
- The white cannoned off the red onto the pink.
- To fire something, especially spherical, rapidly.
- To collide or strike violently, especially so as to glance off or rebound.
Credits
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