I. ˈkanəpē, -i noun
( -es )
Etymology: Middle English canope, canape, from Medieval Latin canopeum, canapeum mosquito net, from Latin conopeum, conopium, from Greek kōnōpion, from kōnōps mosquito, gnat
1. : a covering usually for shelter or protection
from midships aft she was covered with a vast canopy of solid construction — C.S.Forester
a. : a covering usually of cloth suspended from the four high posts of a bed
b. : a covering typically of cloth carried on poles above an exalted personage or sacred object : baldachin
c. : sky
the wild blue canopy above
d. : a temporary or permanent cover providing shelter and decoration (as over a door or window)
e. : a formation of branches affording a cover of foliage
the fabulous avenue … covered with a canopy of chestnut trees — Horace Sutton
specifically : the uppermost spreading branchy layer of a forest — see understory
f. : an awning or marquee often stretching from doorway to curb or covering a section of grandstand
2.
a. : the rooflike construction above the stage of an Elizabethan theater
b. : a curtained recess at the back of such a stage
3. : an ornamental rooflike structure that provides or suggests shelter and that projects from a wall or is supported by columns
4. : a metal covering used to enclose wiring where an electric fixture protrudes (as from a ceiling)
5.
a. : the transparent enclosure over an airplane cockpit
b. : the lifting or supporting surface of a parachute
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
: to cover with or as if with a canopy
the streets were quiet as churches and canopied by stately trees — Hugh MacLennan