cannon English · revision 10462

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1400|origins=xno canon|origins=it cannone|origins=la canna}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈkæn.ən/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English canon, [[bor|xno|canon|t=tube for projectiles]], Old French canon,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from Italian [[m|it|cannone|t=large tube, barrel]], an augmentative of canna, tube,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) from Latin canna, reed, tube (see [[cane]]).^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A large mounted gun: about 1400 in Barnhart and Etymonline;^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) the OED's first quotation for a piece of ordnance is from 1525.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The double -n- spelling, to distinguish the word from [[canon]], began to appear by 1650 and was established about 1800.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) A tube or bore (1588) and a smooth round bit for a horse (1596) are older senses.^(OED 1989) ''Cannon fodder'' (1847) translates German Kanonenfutter;^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) compare Shakespeare's ''food for powder'' in ''Henry IV''.^(Etymonline) A pistol is American slang from 1901,^(OED 1989) and a shell-firing gun in an aircraft from 1919.^(OED 1989) In billiards a cannon, the American carom, is an alteration of carom (18th century).^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1400 – a mounted gun.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1525 – a piece of ordnance.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1847 – cannon fodder.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1800 – the spelling cannon fixed.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1919 – an aircraft cannon.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A large mounted gun firing heavy projectiles, or an automatic gun of large calibre in an aircraft.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(billiards)'' A shot in which the cue ball strikes two balls in succession; a carom.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The loop at the top of a bell by which it hangs.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The cannon bone of a horse's leg.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To fire cannon; to bombard.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # To collide with, or to make a cannon in billiards.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[cannonry]]

+ * [[demi-cannon]]

+ * [[cannonade]]

+ * [[cannonball]]

+ * [[cannoneer]]

+ * [[cannon bone]]

+ * [[cannon fodder]]

+ * [[loose cannon]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cane]]

+ * [[canal]]

+ * [[canon]]

+ * [[canyon]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}