cancels

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of cancel.

   The airline cancels dozens of flights during severe storms.

   If a member resigns, the secretary cancels their access immediately.

   Note

   Every use of this form takes an object. An airline cancels a flight, a clerk cancels a used stamp so it cannot be reused, and a mathematician cancels a common factor from both sides of an equation. It is spelled exactly like the plural noun, so the sentence decides which word you have. After a singular subject it is the verb, and after an article or a number it is the noun.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of cancel.

   Philatelists prize clean cancels that show the full date and town name.

   The printer bound the corrected cancels into each copy of the first edition.

   Note

   Bookmaking gives this plural its most curious use. Cancels can be the pages suppressed from a printed book or the pages printed to replace them, so context must show which is meant. If the cancels were bound in, they are the replacements. In US usage the word is also simply a plural for cancellations, and on Usenet cancels were control messages that withdrew earlier posts.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2