cannonball

cannonball

See also: cannon ball

English

A stack of cannonballs

Etymology

cannon +‎ ball from being a round ball that is fired from a cannon.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkænənˌbɔːl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

cannonball (plural cannonballs)

1. (military, weaponry)
   1. A spherical projectile fired from a smoothbore cannon.

      Synonyms: solid shot, ball, round shot

   2. An explosive-filled hollow iron sphere fused through a hole and intended to explode at a calculated distance rather than explode on impact.
2. (diving) The act of jumping (typically into a swimming pool) with the legs bent and the arms wrapped around the knees to create a large splash, mimicking the flight and shape of a cannonball.
   • The New Yorker, 30 August 2004, p.40
   • The cannonball could be called the S.U.V. of the pool — oversized, brash, hormonally hardwired.
3. (slang, figuratively) Something that moves fast, especially a fast train.

   Meetings of the model train club always begin with the song "Wabash Cannonball".

4. (tennis) A served ball that travels with great speed and describes little or no arc in flight.

Derived terms

• cannonball effect
• cannonball fungus
• cannonball problem
• cannonball run
• cannonball tree
• human cannonball

 

Translations

spherical projectile fired from a smoothbore cannon

Afrikaans: kanonkoeël Armenian: please add this translation if you can Bulgarian: гюле́ n (gjulé) Chinese: Mandarin: 砲彈／炮弹 (zh) (pàodàn) Danish: kanonkugle (da) c Dutch: kanonskogel (nl) m Finnish: tykinkuula (fi), kuula (fi) French: boulet de canon (fr) m German: Kanonenkugel (de) f Hungarian: ágyúgolyó (hu) Ido: kuglego (io) Italian: palla di cannone f Japanese: 砲弾 (ja) (ほうだん, hōdan) Korean: 포탄(砲彈) (ko) (potan), 대포알 (ko) (daepoal) Ladino: top m Macedonian: ѓу́ле n (ǵúle) Maranao: pinang, pitonang Middle English: gunneston Norman: balle dé canon f, boulet dé canon m Norwegian: Bokmål: kanonkule m or f Nynorsk: kanonkule f Polish: kula armatnia f Portuguese: bala de canhão f Romanian: ghiulea (ro) f Russian: пу́шечное ядро́ n (púšečnoje jadró), ядро́ (ru) n (jadró) Spanish: bala de cañón f Swedish: kanonkula (sv) c, kula (sv) c Turkish: gülle (tr)

jumping with the legs bent and the arms wrapped around the knees

Dutch: bommetje (nl) n Finnish: pommi (fi) German: Arschbombe (de) f Macedonian: бо́мба f (bómba) Portuguese: bomba f, bala de canhão f

See also

(diving):

• jack-knife
• bellyflop
• backflop
• rip entry

Verb

cannonball (third-person singular simple present cannonballs, present participle cannonballing, simple past and past participle cannonballed)

1. (intransitive) To jump or dive into water, performing a cannonball landing.

   He cannonballed into the pool, drenching us all.

2. (intransitive) To career; to move rapidly.

   The car cannonballed past.

Translations

to move rapidly

German: rasen (de)