cannonball
See also: cannon ball
English edit
Etymology edit
cannon + ball from being a round ball that is fired from a cannon.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
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.
- (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.
- (slang, figuratively) Something that moves fast, especially a fast train.
- 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.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
spherical projectile fired from a smoothbore cannon
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jumping with the legs bent and the arms wrapped around the knees
See also edit
(diving):
Verb edit
cannonball (third-person singular simple present cannonballs, present participle cannonballing, simple past and past participle cannonballed)
- (intransitive) To jump or dive into water, performing a cannonball landing.
- He cannonballed into the pool, drenching us all.
- (intransitive) To career; to move rapidly.
- The car cannonballed past.