cane
[keyn]
- a stick or short staff used to assist one in walking; walking stick.
- a long, hollow or pithy, jointed woody stem, as that of bamboo, rattan, sugar cane, and certain palms.
- a plant having such a stem.
- split rattan woven or interlaced for chair seats, wickerwork, etc.
- any of several tall bamboolike grasses, especially of the genus Arundinaria, as A. gigantea (cane reed, large cane, giant cane, or southern cane) and A. tecta (small cane or switch cane), of the southern U.S.
- the stem of a raspberry or blackberry.
- sugarcane.
- a rod used for flogging.
- a slender cylinder or rod, as of sealing wax or glass.
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- to flog with a cane.
- to furnish or make with cane: to cane chairs.
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Origin of cane
1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French < Latin canna < Greek kánna < Semitic; compare Akkadian qanū, Hebrew qāneh reed
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for cane
Contemporary Examples
But the police nevertheless declared Stone to be “armed and dangerous,” despite getting around with a cane.
Hitch picks up his cane, pushes her aside, and laboriously tries to get to his feet, saying, “I'll do it myself.”
He's grinning now and actually stretching his legs--his cane has fallen away as he speaks of the !
His friend has dropped hat and cane in shock but the drawing shows stuff that an Americana collector nowadays would kill for.
He pulls up his pants leg to show where a bullet hit him—the reason why he clutches a cane now.
Historical Examples
And you seized his cane in a fury, and broke it in returning the blow.
Brave and BoldHoratio Alger
There are other details I might mention—that cane, for instance—but let it pass.
Chip, of the Flying UB. M. Bower
He drew the cane out of the sand, thrusting the stick down in its stead.
Howard Pyle's Book of PiratesHoward Pyle
Kirkwood poked his cane through the trap, repeating the address.
The Black BagLouis Joseph Vance
His cane alone would have told it long ago, if nothing else had.
Little DorritCharles Dickens
cane1
- the long jointed pithy or hollow flexible stem of the bamboo, rattan, or any similar plant
- any plant having such a stem
- strips of such stems, woven or interlaced to make wickerwork, the seats and backs of chairs, etc
- (as modifier)a cane chair
- the woody stem of a reed, young grapevine, blackberry, raspberry, or loganberry
- any of several grasses with long stiff stems, esp Arundinaria gigantea of the southeastern US
- a flexible rod with which to administer a beating as a punishment, as to schoolboys
- a slender rod, usually wooden and often ornamental, used for support when walking; walking stick
- See sugar cane
- a slender rod or cylinder, as of glass
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- to whip or beat with or as if with a cane
- to make or repair with cane
- informal to defeatwe got well caned in the match
- cane it slang to do something with great power, force, or speed or consume something such as alcohol in large quantitiesyou can do it in ten minutes if you really cane it
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Word Origin
C14: from Old French, from Latin canna, from Greek kanna, of Semitic origin; related to Arabic qanāh reed
cane2
- dialect a female weasel
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Word Origin
C18: of unknown origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for cane
n.
late 14c., from Old French cane "reed, cane, spear" (13c., Modern French canne), from Latin canna "reed, cane," from Greek kanna, perhaps from Assyrian qanu "tube, reed" (cf. Hebrew qaneh, Arabic qanah "reed"), from Sumerian gin "reed." But Tucker finds this borrowing "needless" and proposes a native Indo-European formation from a root meaning "to bind, bend." Sense of "walking stick" in English is 1580s.
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v.
"to beat with a walking stick," 1660s, from cane (n.). Related: Caned; caning.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper