cannon

Pluralcannons

Formscannons, cannoning, cannoned

1. 1
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The complete barrel assembly of a gun, howitzer or mortar, including its breech and firing mechanism.

   After several thousand rounds, the crew replaced the cannon on their howitzer.

   Inspectors examined every cannon for wear in the tube and the breech mechanism before the mortars were shipped.

   Note

   In ordnance language the cannon is a component, not a whole weapon: the tube with its breech or firing gear, fitted into a gun, howitzer or mortar, so a howitzer has a cannon rather than being one. The tube is the heart of the word, which goes back through Italian cannone to Latin canna, "reed"; canyon is its doublet.

2. 2
   old heavy gunnounhistoricalcountable or uncountable

   A large artillery piece of former times, loaded through the muzzle.

   The pirates rolled a cannon to the rail and fired on the merchant ship.

   Visitors to the fort can still see the rusting cannons that once guarded the harbor.

   Similargun

   Note

   The word for the muzzle-loaders of old warships and forts, where gun often serves as a plain synonym. The plural can be cannons, but British English also leaves it unchanged, so a warship carries forty cannon. The spelling itself settled late, around 1800; earlier writers have canon or canoun.

3. 3
   launchernouncountable or uncountable

   Any device that, like an artillery gun, shoots material out of a tube, such as water, confetti or potatoes.

   Riot police brought in a water cannon to clear the square.

   The stage crew loaded the cannon with paper streamers for the final song.

4. 4
   crash intoverbintransitive

   To collide with something or strike it violently, especially so as to glance off it or bounce back.

   Late for the meeting, he rounded the corner and cannoned into a waiter carrying a tray of glasses.

   Loose shopping carts cannon into parked cars whenever the wind picks up.

   Similarcrash, slam, smash, barrel

   Note

   Into is its natural partner, and the picture is of someone moving too fast to stop: in C. S. Lewis's The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952) a girl runs down the stairs and cannons into Edmund at the bottom. Kipling's pony in "The Maltese Cat" (1898) cannons into a goal post hard enough to crack and splinter it.

5. 5
   verbtransitive

   To fire something rapidly, especially a ball or another round object.

   Rodriguez cannoned a free kick off the crossbar in the final minute.

   The practice machine can cannon tennis balls across the court at ninety miles an hour.

   Similarfire, blast, shoot

   Note

   Here the verb takes an object, the ball or the shot, and usually a preposition for where it ends up: a 2011 BBC match report has Nikola Vukcevic cannon a shot off Hennessey's shins. Without an object the verb becomes the colliding sense, where the mover itself goes flying into something.

6. 6
   throwing armnouncolloquialfigurativelycountable or uncountable

   In baseball, the throwing arm of a player who can throw well.

   Their catcher has a cannon, so nobody tries to steal second.

   The rookie shortstop has a cannon for an arm and a quick release.

   Note

   Ballpark talk puts it in the frame he's got a cannon, often with the position attached: a cannon out in right, a cannon behind the plate. The praise is for an arm that throws hard and far enough to keep runners from taking an extra base, and it is the player's arm, not the throw, that gets the name.

7. 7
   rapid-fire gunnouncountable or uncountable

   An autocannon: an automatic rapid-fire gun, especially one carried by a military aircraft.

   The fighter closed to within range and opened fire with its cannon.

   The attack helicopter's nose cannon can swivel to follow the pilot's helmet sight.

   Note

   Military and especially aviation writers often drop the auto-: a fighter's cannon is an automatic gun firing explosive shells in quick succession, a heavier hitter than a machine gun. In a modern setting the bare word therefore points here, not to the old muzzle-loader.

8. 8
   bombardverbtransitive

   To bombard a place or target with cannons.

   The warships cannoned the fort for two days before the troops went ashore.

   The rebels threatened to cannon the town unless its gates were opened.

   Similarbombard, shell

9. 9
   two-ball shotnouncountable or uncountable

   A carom: a shot in which the cue ball strikes two other balls in a single stroke.

   He played a delicate cannon, kissing the red before his ball came to rest against his opponent's.

   A run of close cannons kept her at the table for most of the evening.

   Similarcarom

   Note

   In English billiards the cannon is a scoring stroke worth two points: the striker's cue ball must touch both the opponent's cue ball and the red in a single shot. Carom names the same contact, and either word suits snooker and pool talk whenever the cue ball meets two balls in one stroke.

10. 10
    hit two ballsverbintransitive

    To play a carom: to make the cue ball strike two other balls in one shot.

    Needing two points, she cannoned gently off the red onto her opponent's ball.

    Beginners often cannon off the black by accident when they go for a red.

    Similarcarom

    Note

    The verb follows the cue ball's path, with off marking the first contact and onto the second: the white cannoned off the red onto the pink. The player can be the subject as well, and the term travels from billiards to snooker and pool wherever the cue ball meets two balls in one stroke.

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