/kan"euhn/ , n. , pl. cannons , ( esp. collectively ) cannon , v.
n.
1. a mounted gun for firing heavy projectiles; a gun, howitzer, or mortar.
2. Brit. Mach. quill (def. 10).
3. Armor. a cylindrical or semicylindrical piece of plate armor for the upper arm or forearm; a vambrace or rerebrace.
4. Also called cannon bit, canon bit . a round bit for a horse.
5. the part of a bit that is in the horse's mouth.
6. (on a bell) the metal loop by which a bell is hung.
7. Zool.
a. See cannon bone .
b. the part of the leg in which the cannon bone is situated. See diag. under horse .
8. Brit. a carom in billiards.
9. Underworld Slang. a pickpocket.
v.i.
10. to discharge cannon.
11. Brit. to make a carom in billiards.
[ 1375-1425 (earlier in AL, AF); late ME canon cannone, equiv. to cann ( a ) tube ( -one aug. suffix ]