cannonball

[ kan-uhn-bawl ]

noun

1. a missile, usually round and made of iron or steel, designed to be fired from a cannon.
2. Tennis. a served ball that travels with great speed and describes little or no arc in flight.
3. anything that moves with great speed, as an express train.

adjective

1. made from a curled-up position with the arms pressing the knees against one's chest:

   a cannonball dive.

2. moving at great speed:

   a train known as a cannonball express.

cannonball

/ ˈkænənˌbɔːl /

noun

1. a projectile fired from a cannon: usually a solid round metal shot
2. tennis
   1. a very fast low serve
   2. ( as modifier )

      a cannonball serve

3. a jump into water by a person who has his arms tucked into the body to form a ball

verb

1. often foll byalong, etc to rush along, like a cannonball
2. to execute a cannonball jump

adjective

1. very fast or powerful

Word History and Origins

Origin of cannonball¹

First recorded in 1655–65; cannon + ball ¹

Example Sentences

If an electron passes through matter like a bullet, a muon tears through like a cannonball.

From Science News For Students

A wall may stop a bullet, while a cannonball can pass through.

From Science News For Students

A sudden downpour, an extra-large splash from your cousin’s deranged cannonball, or a spilled water bottle in the bottom of your bag can mean disaster for many of the even best portable speakers.

From Popular-Science

We’ll do some improvements on our existing ones, and if we start to get some traffic, we can go back and get more money and then turn that bullet into firing a cannonball.

From Digiday

The Gen X-y video boasted a giant cannonball rolling down suburban streets, as well as front woman Kim Deal singing underwater.

From The Daily Beast

My description of Cannonball has become admittedly abstract, and the novel is sometimes inexplicably opaque.

From The Daily Beast

A cannonball—metal or human—displaces water, but it regains its own level.

From The Daily Beast

It is at this point that Cannonball turns toward Pynchonian conspiracy.

From The Daily Beast

But the Republican Party has shot like a cannonball to the right.

From The Daily Beast

This village we have just mentioned was on the east side of the river nearly opposite to the mouth of the Cannonball River.

From Project Gutenberg

They were not at all certain where they were, but they knew they were a long way from the mouth of the Little Cannonball.

From Project Gutenberg

The skunk retaliated in his own fashion; and shortly after, they moved forever out of the cabin on the Little Cannonball.

From Project Gutenberg

It is a prairie stream paralleling Cannonball and Cheyenne rivers, and largely destitute of timber.

From Project Gutenberg

Being laid about six feet thick, a cannonball could not have penetrated.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• ammo
• armament
• bomb
• bullet
• cartridge
• chemical
• explosive
• gunpowder
• materiel
• missile
• munition
• napalm
• rocket
• shrapnel
• torpedo