Definition of CANNON

cannon

Meanings

Plural: cannon, cannons

Noun

  • a large artillery gun that is usually on wheels
  • heavy gun fired from a tank
  • (Middle Ages) a cylindrical piece of armor plate to protect the arm
  • heavy automatic gun fired from an airplane
  • lower part of the leg extending from the hock to the fetlock in hoofed mammals
  • a shot in billiards in which the cue ball contacts one object ball and then the other
  • 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.
  • Any similar device for shooting material out of a tube.
  • Any similar device for shooting material out of a tube.
  • An autocannon.
  • A bone of a horse’s leg, between the fetlock joint and the knee or hock.
  • A rolled and filleted loin of meat.
  • A cannon bit.
  • A large muzzle-loading artillery piece.
  • A carom.
  • The arm of a player who can throw well.
  • A hollow cylindrical piece carried by a revolving shaft, on which it may, however, revolve independently.
  • 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.
  • Alternative form of canon (“a large size of type”).
  • 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.
  • A pickpocket.
  • Misspelling of canon.

Verb

  • make a cannon
  • fire a cannon
  • To bombard with cannons.
  • To play the carom billiard shot; to strike two balls with the cue ball.
  • To fire something, especially spherical, rapidly.
  • To collide or strike violently, especially so as to glance off or rebound.

Adj

  • Misspelling of canon.

Origin / 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.

Synonyms

carom, shank

Scrabble Score: 8

cannon is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
cannon is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
cannon is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 12

cannon is a valid Words With Friends word