cannon

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) 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. (countable, uncountable) Any similar device for shooting material out of a tube.
3. (countable, uncountable) Any similar device for shooting material out of a tube.
4. (countable, uncountable) A bone of a horse’s leg, between the fetlock joint and the knee or hock.
5. (countable, uncountable) A rolled and filleted loin of meat.
6. (countable, uncountable) A cannon bit.
7. (countable, historical, uncountable) A large muzzle-loading artillery piece.
8. (countable, uncountable) A carom.
9. (countable, figuratively, informal, uncountable) The arm of a player who can throw well.
10. (countable, uncountable) A hollow cylindrical piece carried by a revolving shaft, on which it may, however, revolve independently.
11. (countable, historical, uncountable) 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. (alt-of, alternative, uncountable) Alternative form of canon (“a large size of type”).
13. (countable, uncountable) 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.
14. (US, countable, slang, uncountable) A pickpocket.

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.

Adj

Misspelling of canon.

Synonyms

gun

🔫

artillery

ordnance

shank

blast

carom

bounce

cannonade

fire

🔥

large gun

rifle

collide

ear

👂

gun piece

firearm

fusillade

big gun

heavy artillery

redshirt

mortar

barker

piece

pip

pump

carom

rocket

🚀

ball

sharpshoot

shoot

shoot down

volley

weapon

barrel assembly

gun down

heavy calibre bullet

brave soldier

piece of ordnance

blaze away

gun tube

cannon barrel

canyon

blaze

Translations

canon

Kanone

cannone

cañón

kanon

canhão

top

canó

κανόνι

Geschütz

vuurmond

fusil

carambolage

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈkæn.ən/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: canon

In summary

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.