CANNON

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cannon mean? 

• CANNON (noun)
  The noun CANNON has 6 senses:

1. a large artillery gun that is usually on wheels

2. heavy gun fired from a tank

3. (Middle Ages) a cylindrical piece of armor plate to protect the arm

4. heavy automatic gun fired from an airplane

5. lower part of the leg extending from the hock to the fetlock in hoofed mammals

6. a shot in billiards in which the cue ball contacts one object ball and then the other

  Familiarity information: CANNON used as a noun is common.

• CANNON (verb)
  The verb CANNON has 2 senses:

1. make a cannon

2. fire a cannon

  Familiarity information: CANNON used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CANNON (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A large artillery gun that is usually on wheels

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("cannon" is a kind of...):

artillery; gun; heavy weapon; ordnance (large but transportable armament)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cannon"):

basilisk (ancient brass cannon)

culverin (a heavy cannon with a long barrel used in the 16th and 17th centuries)

harpoon gun (a cannon or similar gun that fires harpoons)

high-angle gun (a cannon that can be fired at a high elevation for relatively short ranges)

long tom (a long swivel cannon formerly used by the navy)

Derivation:

cannon (fire a cannon)

cannoneer (a serviceman in the artillery)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Heavy gun fired from a tank

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("cannon" is a kind of...):

gun (a weapon that discharges a missile at high velocity (especially from a metal tube or barrel))

Holonyms ("cannon" is a part of...):

armored combat vehicle; armoured combat vehicle; army tank; tank (an enclosed armored military vehicle; has a cannon and moves on caterpillar treads)

Derivation:

cannoneer (a serviceman in the artillery)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(Middle Ages) a cylindrical piece of armor plate to protect the arm

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("cannon" is a kind of...):

armor plate; armor plating; armour plate; plate armor; plate armour (specially hardened steel plate used to protect fortifications or vehicles from enemy fire)

Domain category:

Dark Ages; Middle Ages (the period of history between classical antiquity and the Italian Renaissance)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cannon"):

rerebrace; upper cannon (cannon that provides plate armor for the upper arm)

lower cannon; vambrace (cannon of plate armor protecting the forearm)

Holonyms ("cannon" is a part of...):

body armor; body armour; cataphract; coat of mail; suit of armor; suit of armour (armor that protects the wearer's whole body)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Heavy automatic gun fired from an airplane

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("cannon" is a kind of...):

gun (a weapon that discharges a missile at high velocity (especially from a metal tube or barrel))

Holonyms ("cannon" is a part of...):

bomber (a military aircraft that drops bombs during flight)

Derivation:

cannon (fire a cannon)

cannoneer (a serviceman in the artillery)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Lower part of the leg extending from the hock to the fetlock in hoofed mammals

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

cannon; shank

Hypernyms ("cannon" is a kind of...):

body part (any part of an organism such as an organ or extremity)

Meronyms (parts of "cannon"):

cannon bone (greatly developed metatarsal or metacarpal bone in the shank or cannon part of the leg in hoofed mammals)

Holonyms ("cannon" is a part of...):

hoofed mammal; ungulate (any of a number of mammals with hooves that are superficially similar but not necessarily closely related taxonomically)

animal leg (the leg of an animal)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A shot in billiards in which the cue ball contacts one object ball and then the other

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

cannon; carom

Hypernyms ("cannon" is a kind of...):

shot; stroke ((sports) the act of swinging or striking at a ball with a club or racket or bat or cue or hand)

Holonyms ("cannon" is a part of...):

billiards (any of several games played on rectangular cloth-covered table (with cushioned edges) in which long tapering cue sticks are used to propel ivory (or composition) balls)

pocket billiards; pool (any of various games played on a pool table having 6 pockets)

Derivation:

cannon (make a cannon)

• CANNON (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a cannon

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "cannon" is one way to...):

hit (cause to move by striking)

Domain category:

billiards (any of several games played on rectangular cloth-covered table (with cushioned edges) in which long tapering cue sticks are used to propel ivory (or composition) balls)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

cannon (a shot in billiards in which the cue ball contacts one object ball and then the other)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Fire a cannon

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "cannon" is one way to...):

discharge; muster out (release from military service)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

cannon (a large artillery gun that is usually on wheels)

cannon (heavy automatic gun fired from an airplane)

cannoneer (a serviceman in the artillery)

 Context examples 

Again a head shot swiftly out, and the great Lion went rolling down the hill as if he had been struck by a cannon ball.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

This stellar "cannon fire" has continued once every 8.5 years for at least the past 400 years, astronomers estimate.

(Hubble Detects Giant 'Cannonballs' Shooting from Star, NASA)

For just then, although the sun had still an hour or two to run, all the echoes of the island awoke and bellowed to the thunder of a cannon.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

There is wild talk of cannon aboard, and of strange raids and expeditions she may make, ranging from opium smuggling into the States and arms smuggling into China, to blackbirding and open piracy.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

For your very great politeness, I am sure, said Miss Murdstone; with an irony which no more affected my aunt, than it discomposed the cannon I had slept by at Chatham.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

And being no stranger to the art of war, I gave him a description of cannons, culverins, muskets, carabines, pistols, bullets, powder, swords, bayonets, battles, sieges, retreats, attacks, undermines, countermines, bombardments, sea fights, ships sunk with a thousand men, twenty thousand killed on each side, dying groans, limbs flying in the air, smoke, noise, confusion, trampling to death under horses’ feet, flight, pursuit, victory; fields strewed with carcases, left for food to dogs and wolves and birds of prey; plundering, stripping, ravishing, burning, and destroying.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

They were shooting at us with one of the small cannon which rumour had said they carried on board.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The thunder of the cannon was so loud and incessant, that I could not hear something I much desired to hear, until I made a great exertion and awoke.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I have said this was the worst thing possible for me, for helpless as she looked in this situation, with the canvas cracking like cannon and the blocks trundling and banging on the deck, she still continued to run away from me, not only with the speed of the current, but by the whole amount of her leeway, which was naturally great.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Then the gag swung to the side with an abrupt swiftness, the great sail boomed like a cannon, and the three rows of reef-points slatted against the canvas like a volley of rifles.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)