CANNONBALL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cannonball mean? 

• CANNONBALL (noun)
  The noun CANNONBALL has 1 sense:

1. a solid projectile that in former times was fired from a cannon

  Familiarity information: CANNONBALL used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CANNONBALL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A solid projectile that in former times was fired from a cannon

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

cannon ball; cannonball; round shot

Hypernyms ("cannonball" is a kind of...):

missile; projectile (a weapon that is forcibly thrown or projected at a targets but is not self-propelled)

 Context examples 

Here he was interrupted by a loud report, and a cannonball came tearing through the trees and pitched in the sand not a hundred yards from where we two were talking.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Some scientists compare Mercury to a cannonball because its metal core fills nearly 85 percent of the volume of the planet.

(A Closer Look at Mercury’s Spin and Gravity Reveals the Planet’s Inner Solid Core, NASA)