canopy

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English[edit]

Platform canopies at Clapham Junction station, London

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English canapy, canepie, canapee, canape, canope, from Medieval Latin canapeum, canopeum, from Latin cōnōpēum (“mosquito net, canopy”), from Ancient Greek κωνωπεῖον (kōnōpeîon, “mosquito net”), from Ancient Greek κώνωψ (kṓnōps, “mosquito”), of uncertain origin. More at Ancient Greek κώνωψ (kṓnōps). Doublet of canapé and conopeum.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /ˈkæ.nə.pi/
  • Audio (US)(file)

Noun[edit]

canopy (plural canopies)

Canopy walkway in Rwanda (3).
  1. A high cover providing shelter, such as a cloth supported above an object, particularly over a bed.
    • 1847, John Dryden, The Works of John Dryden in Verse and Prose, volume 1, Harper, The Beginning of the Second Book of Lucretius:
      golden canopies and beds of state
    • 2019 October, “Consultation on University Station designs”, in Modern Railways, page 17:
      Platforms would be widened and covered by canopies with heated waiting areas for passengers.
  2. Any overhanging or projecting roof structure, typically over entrances or doors.
  3. The zone of the highest foliage and branches of a forest.
  4. In an airplane, the transparent cockpit cover.
  5. In a parachute, the cloth that fills with air and thus limits the falling speed.

Derived terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

  • → French: canopée (calque)
  • → Spanish: canopy

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

canopy (third-person singular simple present canopies, present participle canopying, simple past and past participle canopied)

  1. (transitive) To cover with or as if with a canopy.
    • c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or VVhat You VVill”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene i]:
      Away before me to sweet beds of flowers:
      Love-thoughts lie rich when canopied with bowers.
    • 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], H[enry] Lawes, editor, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, OCLC 228715864; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, OCLC 1113942837, lines 543-5:
      I sat me down to watch upon a bank
      With ivy canopied, and interwove
      With flaunting honeysuckle […]
    • 1818, [Mary Shelley], chapter 11, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, OCLC 830979744:
      I began also to observe, with greater accuracy, the forms that surrounded me, and to perceive the boundaries of the radiant roof of light which canopied me.
    • 1850, The Madras Journal of Literature and Science, Vol. XVI, No. 38, Vepery: J.P. Bantleman, p. 366,[1]
      The walls of the vestibule and passage passing round the sanctuary, are covered with compartments holding high reliefs of Buddha seated on a lotus, the stem of which is grasped by two figures wearing wigs and tiaras, canopied by snakes; […]
  2. (intransitive) To go through the canopy of a forest on a zipline.
    • 2013, Tara Morris, “Canopying In Rio Claro,” colombiareports.com, 11 March, 2013,[2]
      If you’re looking for a little adventure in Colombia, look no further than canopying through Rio Claro’s lush, secluded jungle, located just five hours bus ride from either Medellin or Bogota.

See also[edit]

References[edit]


Spanish[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Unadapted borrowing from English canopy.

Noun[edit]

canopy m (uncountable)

  1. (Caribbean) Synonym of tirolina (“zipline”)

Usage notes[edit]

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

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