cannon

English Online Dictionary. What means cannon‎? What does cannon mean?

English

Etymology 1

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.

Pronunciation

• enPR: kăn'ən, IPA^(key): /ˈkæn.ən/
• Rhymes: -ænən
• Homophone: canon

Noun

cannon (countable and uncountable, plural cannons or (mainly UK) cannon)

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. It may include muzzle appendages.
2. Any similar device for shooting material out of a tube.
   1. (military, chiefly aviation) An autocannon.
3. A bone of a horse’s leg, between the fetlock joint and the knee or hock.
4. (cooking) A rolled and filleted loin of meat.

5. A cannon bit.
6. (historical) A large muzzle-loading artillery piece.
7. (sports, billiards, snooker, pool) A carom.

8. (baseball, figuratively, informal) The arm of a player who can throw well.

9. (engineering) A hollow cylindrical piece carried by a revolving shaft, on which it may, however, revolve independently.
10. (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.

    Coordinate terms: rerebrace, vambrace
11. (printing, uncountable) Alternative form of canon (“a large size of type”)
12. (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.
13. (US, slang) A pickpocket.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

cannon (third-person singular simple present cannons, present participle cannoning, simple past and past participle cannoned)

1. To bombard with cannons.
2. (sports, billiards, snooker, pool) 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.

Translations

See also

References

Further reading

• cannon on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

Noun

cannon (plural cannons)

1. (fandom slang) Misspelling of canon.

Adjective

cannon (not comparable)

1. (fandom slang) Misspelling of canon.