/keuh nal"/ , n. , v. , canalled or canaled, canalling or canaling .
n.
1. an artificial waterway for navigation, irrigation, etc.
2. a long narrow arm of the sea penetrating far inland.
3. a tubular passage or cavity for food, air, etc., esp. in an animal or plant; a duct.
4. channel; watercourse.
5. Astron. one of the long, narrow, dark lines on the surface of the planet Mars, as seen telescopically from the earth.
v.t.
6. to make a canal through.
[ 1400-50; late ME: waterpipe, tubular passage canalis, perh. equiv. to can ( na ) reed, pipe (see CANE) + -alis -AL 1 ; def. 5 a mistranslation of It canali channels, term used by G. V. Schiaparelli ]