Dictionary    Maps    Thesaurus    Translate    Advanced >   


Tip: Click Thesaurus above for synonyms. Also, follow synonym links within the dictionary to find definitions from other sources.

1. WordNet® 3.0 (2006)
cannon
    n 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 [syn: cannon, shank]
    6: a shot in billiards in which the cue ball contacts one object
       ball and then the other [syn: carom, cannon]
    v 1: make a cannon
    2: fire a cannon

2. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Gun \Gun\ (g[u^]n), n. [OE. gonne, gunne; of uncertain origin;
   cf. Ir., Gael., & LL. gunna, W. gum; possibly (like cannon)
   fr. L. canna reed, tube; or abbreviated fr. OF. mangonnel, E.
   mangonel, a machine for hurling stones.]
   1. A weapon which throws or propels a missile to a distance;
      any firearm or instrument for throwing projectiles,
      consisting of a tube or barrel closed at one end, in which
      the projectile is placed, with an explosive charge (such
      as guncotton or gunpowder) behind, which is ignited by
      various means. Pistols, rifles, carbines, muskets, and
      fowling pieces are smaller guns, for hand use, and are
      called small arms. Larger guns are called cannon,
      ordnance, fieldpieces, carronades, howitzers, etc.
      See these terms in the Vocabulary.
      [1913 Webster]

            As swift as a pellet out of a gunne
            When fire is in the powder runne.     --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

            The word gun was in use in England for an engine to
            cast a thing from a man long before there was any
            gunpowder found out.                  --Selden.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Mil.) A piece of heavy ordnance; in a restricted sense, a
      cannon.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. pl. (Naut.) Violent blasts of wind.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: Guns are classified, according to their construction or
         manner of loading as rifled or smoothbore,
         breech-loading or muzzle-loading, cast or
         built-up guns; or according to their use, as field,
         mountain, prairie, seacoast, and siege guns.
         [1913 Webster]

   Armstrong gun, a wrought iron breech-loading cannon named
      after its English inventor, Sir William Armstrong.

   Big gun or Great gun, a piece of heavy ordnance; hence
      (Fig.), a person superior in any way; as, bring in the big
      guns to tackle the problem.

   Gun barrel, the barrel or tube of a gun.

   Gun carriage, the carriage on which a gun is mounted or
      moved.

   Gun cotton (Chem.), a general name for a series of
      explosive nitric ethers of cellulose, obtained by steeping
      cotton in nitric and sulphuric acids. Although there are
      formed substances containing nitric acid radicals, yet the
      results exactly resemble ordinary cotton in appearance. It
      burns without ash, with explosion if confined, but quietly
      and harmlessly if free and open, and in small quantity.
      Specifically, the lower nitrates of cellulose which are
      insoluble in ether and alcohol in distinction from the
      highest (pyroxylin) which is soluble. See Pyroxylin, and
      cf. Xyloidin. The gun cottons are used for blasting and
      somewhat in gunnery: for making celluloid when compounded
      with camphor; and the soluble variety (pyroxylin) for
      making collodion. See Celluloid, and Collodion. Gun
      cotton is frequenty but improperly called
      nitrocellulose. It is not a nitro compound, but an ester
      of nitric acid.

   Gun deck. See under Deck.

   Gun fire, the time at which the morning or the evening gun
      is fired.

   Gun metal, a bronze, ordinarily composed of nine parts of
      copper and one of tin, used for cannon, etc. The name is
      also given to certain strong mixtures of cast iron.

   Gun port (Naut.), an opening in a ship through which a
      cannon's muzzle is run out for firing.

   Gun tackle (Naut.), the blocks and pulleys affixed to the
      side of a ship, by which a gun carriage is run to and from
      the gun port.

   Gun tackle purchase (Naut.), a tackle composed of two
      single blocks and a fall. --Totten.

   Krupp gun, a wrought steel breech-loading cannon, named
      after its German inventor, Herr Krupp.

   Machine gun, a breech-loading gun or a group of such guns,
      mounted on a carriage or other holder, and having a
      reservoir containing cartridges which are loaded into the
      gun or guns and fired in rapid succession. In earlier
      models, such as the Gatling gun, the cartridges were
      loaded by machinery operated by turning a crank. In modern
      versions the loading of cartidges is accomplished by
      levers operated by the recoil of the explosion driving the
      bullet, or by the pressure of gas within the barrel.
      Several hundred shots can be fired in a minute by such
      weapons, with accurate aim. The Gatling gun, Gardner
      gun, Hotchkiss gun, and Nordenfelt gun, named for
      their inventors, and the French mitrailleuse, are
      machine guns.

   To blow great guns (Naut.), to blow a gale. See Gun, n.,
      3.
      [1913 Webster +PJC]

3. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Cannon \Can"non\, n.; 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.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: 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.
         [1913 Webster]

   2. (Mech.) A hollow cylindrical piece carried by a revolving
      shaft, on which it may, however, revolve independently.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Printing.) A kind of type. See Canon.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.
          [1913 Webster]

4. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Cannon \Can"non\, v. i.
   1. To discharge cannon.
      [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

   2. To collide or strike violently, esp. so as to glance off
      or rebound; to strike and rebound.

            He heard the right-hand goal post crack as a pony
            cannoned into it -- crack, splinter, and fall like a
            mast.                                 --Kipling.
      [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

5. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Cannon \Can"non\, n. & v. (Billiards)
   See Carom. [Eng.]
   [1913 Webster]

6. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Carom \Car"om\, n. [Prob. corrupted fr. F. carumboler to carom,
   carambolage a carom, carambole the red ball in billiards.]
   (Billiards)
   A shot in which the ball struck with the cue comes in contact
   with two or more balls on the table; a hitting of two or more
   balls with the player's ball. In England it is called
   cannon.
   [1913 Webster]

7. The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906)
CANNON, n.  An instrument employed in the rectification of national
boundaries.


8. U.S. Gazetteer Counties (2000)
Cannon -- U.S. County in Tennessee
   Population (2000):    12826
   Housing Units (2000): 5420
   Land area (2000):     265.643433 sq. miles (688.013305 sq. km)
   Water area (2000):    0.063764 sq. miles (0.165149 sq. km)
   Total area (2000):    265.707197 sq. miles (688.178454 sq. km)
   Located within:       Tennessee (TN), FIPS 47
   Location:             35.811388 N, 86.064304 W
   Headwords:
    Cannon
    Cannon, TN
    Cannon County
    Cannon County, TN


Thesaurus Results for cannon:

1. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
aim at, appulse, artillery, backfire, backlash, bang, bang into, barrage, battery, blast, blitz, bombard, boomerang, bounce, bounce back, bound, bound back, bowshot, brunt, bulldozing, bullet, bulling, bump, bump into, cannon off, cannonade, cannonry, carambole, carom, carom into, clash, coast artillery, collide, collision, come into collision, commence firing, concuss, concussion, confront each other, crack up, crack-up, crash, crash into, crump, crunch, cutpurse, dash into, detonation, dip, discharge, diver, ejection, encounter, enfilade, fall foul of, field artillery, fire a volley, fire at, fire upon, flak, fly back, foul, fusillade, gun, gunfire, gunshot, hammering, have repercussions, heavy field artillery, hit, hit against, hurt, hurtle, impact, impinge, impingement, kick, kick back, knock, knock against, lash back, mauling, meet, meeting, mortar, onslaught, open fire, open up on, ordnance, pepper, percuss, percussion, pop at, potshot, rake, ramming, rebound, recalcitrate, recoil, repercuss, resile, ricochet, run into, salvo, shell, shock, shoot, shoot at, shot, sideswipe, siege artillery, siege engine, slam into, sledgehammering, smack into, smash, smash into, smash up, smash-up, smashing, snap back, snipe, snipe at, spray, spring, spring back, stoneshot, strafe, strike, strike against, take aim at, tattoo, thrusting, torpedo, trench artillery, volley, whomp, wire, zero in on
Common Misspellings >
Most Popular Searches: Define Misanthrope, Define Pulchritudinous, Define Happy, Define Veracity, Define Cornucopia, Define Almuerzo, Define Atresic, Define URL, Definitions Of Words, Definition Of Get Up, Definition Of Quid Pro Quo, Definition Of Irreconcilable Differences, Definition Of Word, Synonyms of Repetitive, Synonym Dictionary, Synonym Antonyms. See our main index and map index for more details.

©2011-2024 ZebraWords.com - Define Yourself - The Search for Meanings and Meaning Means I Mean. All content subject to terms and conditions as set out here. Contact Us, peruse our Privacy Policy