cannon
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: kăn'ən
ipa: /ˈkæn.ən/
rhymes: -ænən
homophone: canon
Forms: form: cannons
form: cannon
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.
Senses: examples: Holonyms: gun, field gun; howitzer; mortar
glosses: 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.
examples: text: water cannon; glitter cannon; confetti cannon; potato cannon
glosses: Any similar device for shooting material out of a tube.
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
government
military
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
politics
war
glosses: Any similar device for shooting material out of a tube.
An autocannon.
glosses: A bone of a horse’s leg, between the fetlock joint and the knee or hock.
examples: text: a canon of beef or lamb
topics: cooking
food
lifestyle
glosses: A rolled and filleted loin of meat.
glosses: A cannon bit.
examples: Near-synonym: gun (often synonymous)
coordinate_terms: firearm
small arm
glosses: A large muzzle-loading artillery piece.
examples: text: 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.
topics: ball-games
billiards
games
hobbies
lifestyle
pool
snooker
sports
glosses: A carom.
examples: text: He’s got a cannon out in right.
topics: ball-games
baseball
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: The arm of a player who can throw well.
topics: engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: A hollow cylindrical piece carried by a revolving shaft, on which it may, however, revolve independently.
examples: text: The pauldrons are rather weak, but the cannons of the vambraces are good and come from an Italian armour of considerably earlier date, for they have the tulip form of the first half of the century.
ref: 1949, The Connoisseur:
text: During the second half of the century the upper cannons were often joined to the pauldrons […] Here the cannons and the couter, although separate, are joined together when worn by the points securing them to the arming […]
ref: 1972, Claude Blair, European Armour: Circa 1066 to Circa 1700:
text: The breastplate was now usually globular in shape with attached tassets. The arm defenses were almost always in one piece, the lower and upper cannons joined permanently to the couter with internal leathers and rivets, and the whole frequently also joined permanently to the pauldron.
ref: 2007, Kelly DeVries, Robert Douglas Smith, Medieval Weapons: An Illustrated History of Their Impact, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 178:
coordinate_terms: rerebrace
vambrace
glosses: 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.
topics: media
printing
publishing
glosses: Alternative form of canon (“a large size of type”).
topics: board-games
games
xiangqi
glosses: 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.
examples: text: I also learned never to conspicuoulsy^([sic]) watch a cannon while he was working. Pickpockets dislike being watched, even by those who may be "right," because they become uneasy and clumsy and feel conspicuous.
ref: 1977, Robert S. Weppner, Street ethnography, page 70:
text: A good pickpocket is known to his fellows as a pistol. Rufus Dayne is a cannon. One of the best pickpockets in the country, he makes close to a million dollars a year and has no criminal record at all.
ref: 2009, James Thomson, Bedlam City: Savage Worlds Edition, page 377:
glosses: A pickpocket.
Derived terms: autocannon
calcium cannon
cannonade
cannonball
cannon ball
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
slum cannon
snow cannon
spool cannon
supercannon
Vulcan cannon
water cannon