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46 definitions found


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

From U.S. Gazetteer (1990) : [ gazetteer ]


  Cannon, KY
    Zip code(s): 40923
  Cannon, MS
    Zip code(s): 38603

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 : [ gcide ]


  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]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 : [ gcide ]


  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.]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 : [ gcide ]


  Cannon \Can"non\, n. & v. (Billiards)
     See Carom. [Eng.]
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 : [ gcide ]


  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]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 : [ gcide ]


  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]