Search Result for "cannon": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (6)

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]


VERB (2)

1. make a cannon;

2. fire a cannon;


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]
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]
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.]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Cannon \Can"non\, n. & v. (Billiards) See Carom. [Eng.] [1913 Webster]
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]
WordNet (r) 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
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

139 Moby Thesaurus words for "cannon": 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
The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906):

CANNON, n. An instrument employed in the rectification of national boundaries.
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