from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Cannon \Can"non\, n.; pl. {Cannons}, collectively {Cannon}. [F.
cannon, fr. L. canna reed, pipe, tube. See {Cane}.]
1. A great gun; a piece of ordnance or artillery; a firearm
for discharging heavy shot with great force.
[1913 Webster]
Note: Cannons are made of various materials, as iron, brass,
bronze, and steel, and of various sizes and shapes with
respect to the special service for which they are
intended, as intended, as siege, seacoast, naval,
field, or mountain, guns. They always aproach more or
less nearly to a cylindrical from, being usually
thicker toward the breech than at the muzzle. Formerly
they were cast hollow, afterwards they were cast,
solid, and bored out. The cannon now most in use for
the armament of war vessels and for seacoast defense
consists of a forged steel tube reinforced with massive
steel rings shrunk upon it. Howitzers and mortars are
sometimes called cannon. See {Gun}.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Mech.) A hollow cylindrical piece carried by a revolving
shaft, on which it may, however, revolve independently.
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3. (Printing.) A kind of type. See {Canon}.
[1913 Webster]
{Cannon ball}, strictly, a round solid missile of stone or
iron made to be fired from a cannon, but now often applied
to a missile of any shape, whether solid or hollow, made
for cannon. Elongated and cylindrical missiles are
sometimes called bolts; hollow ones charged with
explosives are properly called shells.
{Cannon bullet}, a cannon ball. [Obs.]
{Cannon cracker}, a fire cracker of large size.
{Cannon lock}, a device for firing a cannon by a percussion
primer.
{Cannon metal}. See {Gun Metal}.
{Cannon pinion}, the pinion on the minute hand arbor of a
watch or clock, which drives the hand but permits it to be
moved in setting.
{Cannon proof}, impenetrable by cannon balls.
{Cannon shot}.
(a) A cannon ball.
(b) The range of a cannon.
[1913 Webster]