cannonball
See also: cannon ball
English
Pronunciation
Audio (US): (file)
Etymology 1
cannon + ball from being a round ball that is fired from a cannon.
Noun
cannonball (plural cannonballs)
- (military, weaponry)
- A spherical projectile fired from a smoothbore cannon
- Synonyms: solid shot, ball, round shot
- An explosive-filled hollow iron sphere fused through a hole and intended to explode at a calculated distance rather than explode on impact.
- A spherical projectile fired from a smoothbore cannon
Translations
spherical projectile fired from a smoothbore cannon
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Etymology 2
From behaving like a cannonball fired from a cannon
Noun
cannonball (plural cannonballs)
- (diving) The act of running and jumping in a flexed position into a swimming pool to create a large splash, mimicking the flight and shape of a cannonball.
- The cannonball could be called the S.U.V. of the pool — oversized, brash, hormonally hardwired.
- The New Yorker, 30 August 2004, p.40
- The cannonball could be called the S.U.V. of the pool — oversized, brash, hormonally hardwired.
- (slang, figuratively) Something that moves fast.
- Meetings of the model train club always begin with the song "Wabash Cannonball".
- (tennis) A served ball that travels with great speed and describes little or no arc in flight.
See also
(diving):
Translations
Jump in a flexed position
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Verb
cannonball (third-person singular simple present cannonballs, present participle cannonballing, simple past and past participle cannonballed)
- To jump/dive into water doing a cannonball landing.
- He cannonballed into the pool, drenching us all.
- To careen; to move rapidly
Interjection
cannonball!
- Yelled when jumping/diving into the water, doing a cannonball landing.