—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
Useful english dictionary. 2012.