Word: cannon Part of Speech: noun 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) (for more, see cane). Doublet of canyon. This spelling was not fixed until about 1800. Pronunciation: /ˈkæn.ən/ 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. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Holonyms: gun, field gun; howitzer; mortar 2. Any similar device for shooting material out of a tube. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: water cannon; glitter cannon; confetti cannon; potato cannon 3. Any similar device for shooting material out of a tube. Labels: countable, uncountable 4. A bone of a horse’s leg, between the fetlock joint and the knee or hock. Labels: countable, uncountable 5. A rolled and filleted loin of meat. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: a canon of beef or lamb 6. A cannon bit. Labels: countable, uncountable 7. A large muzzle-loading artillery piece. Labels: countable, historical, uncountable Example: Near-synonym: gun (often synonymous) 8. A carom. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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. 9. The arm of a player who can throw well. Labels: countable, figuratively, informal, uncountable Example: He’s got a cannon out in right. 10. A hollow cylindrical piece carried by a revolving shaft, on which it may, however, revolve independently. Labels: countable, uncountable 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. Labels: countable, historical, uncountable Example: 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. Example: 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 […] 12. Alternative form of canon (“a large size of type”). Labels: alt-of, alternative, uncountable 13. 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. Labels: countable, uncountable 14. A pickpocket. Labels: US, countable, slang, uncountable Example: 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. Example: 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.