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) (for more, see cane). Doublet of canyon. This spelling was not fixed until about 1800.
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.
Holonyms: gun, field gun; howitzer; mortar
2
Any similar device for shooting material out of a tube.
water cannon; glitter cannon; confetti cannon; potato cannon
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.
Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences A hollow cylindrical piece carried by a revolving shaft, on which it may, however, revolve independently.
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Historical 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.
The pauldrons are rather weak, but the cannons of the vambraces are good and come from an Italian armour of considerably earlier date, for they have the tulip form of the first half of the century.1949, The Connoisseur:
During the second half of the century the upper cannons were often joined to the pauldrons […] Here the cannons and the couter, although separate, are joined together when worn by the points securing them to the arming […]1972, Claude Blair, European Armour: Circa 1066 to Circa 1700:
1 more example
The breastplate was now usually globular in shape with attached tassets. The arm defenses were almost always in one piece, the lower and upper cannons joined permanently to the couter with internal leathers and rivets, and the whole frequently also joined permanently to the pauldron.2007, Kelly DeVries, Robert Douglas Smith, Medieval Weapons: An Illustrated History of Their Impact, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 178:
Board games, Games, Xiangqi 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.
I also learned never to conspicuoulsy^([sic]) watch a cannon while he was working. Pickpockets dislike being watched, even by those who may be "right," because they become uneasy and clumsy and feel conspicuous.1977, Robert S. Weppner, Street ethnography, page 70:
A good pickpocket is known to his fellows as a pistol. Rufus Dayne is a cannon. One of the best pickpockets in the country, he makes close to a million dollars a year and has no criminal record at all.2009, James Thomson, Bedlam City: Savage Worlds Edition, page 377:
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) (for more, see cane). Doublet of canyon. This spelling was not fixed until about 1800.
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.2011 September 2, “Wales 2-1 Montenegro”, in BBC:
4
To collide or strike violently, especially so as to glance off or rebound.
[…] he heard the right-hand goal post crack as a pony cannoned into it—crack, splinter, and fall like a mast.1898, Rudyard Kipling, “The Maltese Cat”, in The Day's Work:
She ran down the stairs which she had come up so nervously that morning and cannoned into Edmund at the bottom.1952, C. S. Lewis, chapter 11, in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Collins, published 1998: