Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Cannon

Can′non

,
Noun.
;
pl.
Cannons
(#)
, collectively
Cannon
.
[F.
cannon
, fr. L.
canna
reed, pipe, tube. See
Cane
.]
1.
A great gun; a piece of ordnance or artillery; a firearm for discharging heavy shot with great force.
☞ Cannons are made of various materials, as iron, brass, bronze, and steel, and of various sizes and shapes with respect to the special service for which they are intended, as intended, as siege, seacoast, naval, field, or mountain, guns. They always aproach more or less nearly to a cylindrical from, being usually thicker toward the breech than at the muzzle. Formerly they were cast hollow, afterwards they were cast, solid, and bored out. The cannon now most in use for the armament of war vessels and for seacoast defense consists of a forged steel tube reinforced with massive steel rings shrunk upon it. Howitzers and mortars are sometimes called cannon. See
Gun
.
2.
(Mech.)
A hollow cylindrical piece carried by a revolving shaft, on which it may, however, revolve independently.
3.
(Printing.)
A kind of type. See
Canon
.
Cannon ball
,
strictly, a round solid missile of stone or iron made to be fired from a cannon, but now often applied to a missile of any shape, whether solid or hollow, made for cannon. Elongated and cylindrical missiles are sometimes called bolts; hollow ones charged with explosives are properly called shells.
Cannon bullet
,
a cannon ball
.
[Obs.]
Cannon cracker
,
a fire cracker of large size.
Cannon lock
,
a device for firing a cannon by a percussion primer.
Cannon metal
.
See
Gun Metal
.
Cannon pinion
,
the pinion on the minute hand arbor of a watch or clock, which drives the hand but permits it to be moved in setting.
Cannon proof
,
impenetrable by cannon balls.
Cannon shot
.
(a)
A cannon ball.
(b)
The range of a cannon.

Can′non

,
Noun.
&
Verb.
(Billiards)
See
Carom
.
[Eng.]

Webster 1828 Edition


Cannon

CANNON

,
Noun.
A large military engine for throwing balls, and other instruments of death, by the force of gun powder. Guns of this kind are made of iron or brass and of different sizes, carrying balls from three or four pounds, to forty eight pounds weight. In some countries, they have been made of much larger size. The smaller guns of this kind are called field pieces.

Definition 2024


Cannon

Cannon

See also: cannon

English

Proper noun

Cannon

  1. A surname.

cannon

cannon

See also: Cannon

English

A cannon (artillery piece)

Noun

cannon (plural cannon or cannons)

  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.[3]
  2. A bone of a horse's leg, between the fetlock joint and the knee or hock.
  3. (historical) A large muzzle-loading artillery piece.
  4. (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.
  5. (baseball, figuratively, informal) The arm of a player that can throw well.
    He's got a cannon out in right.
  6. (engineering) A hollow cylindrical piece carried by a revolving shaft, on which it may, however, revolve independently.
  7. (printing) Alternative form of canon (a large size of type)

Usage notes

The unchanged plural is preferred in Great Britain and Ireland, while North Americans and Australians tend to use the regular plural cannons.

On aircraft, autocannons are sometimes called "cannons" for short.

Related 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
    The white cannoned off the red onto the pink.
  3. To fire something, especially spherical, rapidly.
    • 2011 September 2, “Wales 2-1 Montenegro”, in BBC:
      Montenegro had hardly threatened in the second period but served notice they were still potent as Nikola Vukcevic took a smart pass from Jovetic and cannoned a shot off Hennessey's shins.
  4. To collide or strike violently, especially so as to glance off or rebound.
    • 1898, Rudyard Kipling, "The Maltese Cat" in The Day's Work,
      [] he heard the right-hand goal post crack as a pony cannoned into it&mdashcrack, splinter, and fall like a mast.
    • 1952, C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Collins, 1998, Chapter 11,
      She ran down the stairs which she had come up so nervously that morning and cannoned into Edmund at the bottom.

Translations

References

  1. Barnhart, Robert K.; Editor. The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology. 1995 HarperResource/HarperCollins P.102.
  2. Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (December 26, 2006).
  3. (JP 1-02 Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms).