CANNON


Meaning of CANNON in English

n. & v.

--n.

1. hist. (pl. same) a large heavy gun installed on a carriage or mounting.

2 an automatic aircraft gun firing shells.

3 Billiards the hitting of two balls successively by the cue-ball.

4 Mech. a hollow cylinder moving independently on a shaft.

5 (in full cannon-bit) a smooth round bit for a horse.

--v.intr.

1. (usu. foll. by against, into) collide heavily or obliquely.

2 Billiards make a cannon shot.

Phrases and idioms:

cannon-ball hist. a large usu. metal ball fired by a cannon. cannon-bone the tube-shaped bone between the hock and fetlock of a horse. cannon-fodder soldiers regarded merely as material to be expended in war.

Etymology: F canon f. It. cannone large tube f. canna CANE: in Billiards sense f. older CAROM

Oxford English vocab.      Оксфордский английский словарь.