can·non   (kān'ən)    n.   pl. cannon or can·nons A large mounted weapon that fires heavy projectiles. Cannon include guns, howitzers, and mortars. The loop at the top of a bell by which it is hung. A round bit for a horse. Zoology The section of the lower leg in some hoofed mammals between the hock or knee and the fetlock, containing the cannon bone. Chiefly British A carom made in billiards. v.   can·noned, can·non·ing, can·nons v.   tr. To bombard with cannon. Chiefly British To cause to carom in billiards. v.   intr. To fire cannon. Chiefly British To make a carom in billiards. [Middle English canon, from Old French, from Old Italian cannone, augmentative of canna, tube, from Latin, reed; see cane.]

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.

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.

2. (Mech.) A hollow cylindrical piece carried by a revolving shaft, on which it may, however, revolve independently.

3. (Printing.) A kind of type. See Canon.

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.

cannon 

Main Entry: can·non
Pronunciation: 'kan-&n
Function: noun
: the part of the leg in which the cannon bone is found

Cannon   (kān'ən)  Pronunciation Key  American astronomer noted for her work on classifying stellar spectra. Cannon classified the spectra of 225,300 stars brighter than magnitude 8.5, as well as 130,000 fainter stars.