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cane
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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See also: Appendix:Variations of "cane"
English
Etymology
From Middle English cane, canne, from Old French cane (“sugar cane”), from Latin canna (“reed”), from Ancient Greek κάννα (kánna), from Akkadian 𒄀 (qanû, “reed”), from Sumerian 𒄀𒈾 (gi.na). Doublet of canna and kaneh. Related to channel and canal.
Pronunciation
Noun
cane (countable and uncountable, plural canes)
- A plant with simple stems, like bamboo or sugar cane, or the stem thereof
- (uncountable) The slender, flexible main stem of a plant such as bamboo, including many species in the grass family Gramineae
- (uncountable) The plant itself, including many species in the grass family Gramineae; a reed
- Synonym: reed
- (uncountable) Sugar cane
- Synonym: molasses cane
- 1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 7, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC:
- Still, a dozen men with rifles, and cartridges to match, stayed behind when they filed through a white aldea lying silent amid the cane, and the Sin Verguenza swung into slightly quicker stride.
- (US, Southern) Maize or, rarely, sorghum, when such plants are processed to make molasses (treacle) or sugar
- The stem of such a plant adapted for use as a tool
- (countable) A short rod or stick, traditionally of wood or bamboo, used for corporal punishment.
- 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, page 123:
- He stalked behind her simple narrative, a kill-joy parent, hasty, intolerant, keeping a special cane to enforce the authority of his sadistic God[.]
- (with "the") Corporal punishment by beating with a cane.
- Synonyms: a caning, six of the best, whipping, cuts
- The teacher gave his student the cane for throwing paper.
- A lance or dart made of cane
- 1670, John Dryden, The Conquest of Granada:
- Judgelike thou sitt'st, to praise or to arraign / The flying skirmish of the darted cane.
- (countable) A short rod or stick, traditionally of wood or bamboo, used for corporal punishment.
- A rod-shaped tool or device, resembling the stem of the plant.
- (countable) A strong short staff used for support or decoration during walking; a walking stick
- Synonyms: staff, walking stick
- After breaking his leg, he needed a cane to walk.
- 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Ayrsham Mystery”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:
- The cane was undoubtedly of foreign make, for it had a solid silver ferrule at one end, which was not English hall–marked.
- 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter X, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
- Men that I knew around Wapatomac didn't wear high, shiny plug hats, nor yeller spring overcoats, nor carry canes with ivory heads as big as a catboat's anchor, as you might say.
- (countable, glassblowing) A length of colored and/or patterned glass rod, used in the specific glassblowing technique called caneworking
- (countable) A long rod often collapsible and commonly white (for visibility to other persons), used by vision impaired persons for guidance in determining their course and for probing for obstacles in their path
- Synonyms: blind man's cane, white cane
- (countable) A strong short staff used for support or decoration during walking; a walking stick
- (uncountable) Split rattan, as used in wickerwork and basketry.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
- The bed was the most extravagant piece. Its graceful cane halftester rose high towards the cornice and was so festooned in carved white wood that the effect was positively insecure, as if the great couch were trimmed with icing sugar.
- A local European measure of length; the canna.
Derived terms
- bamboo cane
- blind man's cane
- candy cane
- cane apple (Arbutus unedo)
- cane ash (Fraxinus americana)
- caneball
- cane beardgrass (Bothriochloa barbinodis)
- cane beetle
- cane bluestem (Bothriochloa barbinodis)
- caneboard
- cane borer (Oberea bimaculata)
- canebrake
- cane brake
- cane carter
- cane cutter
- canecutter
- cane field, canefield
- canefruit
- cane fu
- cane gall
- canegrass
- cane grass (esp. Glyceria ramigera)
- canegrub
- cane grub (esp. Dermolepida albohirtum)
- cane juice
- cane killer (Melasma melampyroides)
- cane knife
- caneland
- caneless
- canelike, cane-like
- caneology
- cane piece
- caner
- cane rat (Thryonomys spp.)
- cane rust
- cane sugar
- cane syrup
- cane toad (Rhinella marina)
- cane train
- caneware
- canework
- caneworking
- canite
- cany
- dumbcane
- dumb cane (Dieffenbachia seguine)
- floricane
- giant cane, great cane (Arundinaria gigantea)
- hill cane (Arundinaria appalachiana)
- large cane (Arundinaria gigantea)
- lawyer cane (Calamus australis)
- macaroni cane
- maiden cane (Panicum hemitomon)
- Malacca cane (Calamus scipionum)
- plant-cane
- primocane
- probing cane
- rattan cane (Calamus spp.)
- recane
- ribbon cane
- rivercane
- river cane (Arundinaria gigantea)
- Santa's cane
- small cane (Arundinaria tecta)
- snake cane (Kunthia montana)
- sugar-cane
- sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum)
- sweet cane
- switch cane (Arundinaria tecta, Arundinaria gigantea)
- sword cane
- walking cane
- white cane
Translations
slender flexible stem of plants such as bamboo
|
plant itself
|
sugar cane — see sugar cane
a short wooden or bamboo rod or stick used for corporal punishment
|
the cane: corporal punishment consisting of a beating with a cane
|
walking stick — see walking stick
long collapsible rod used by vision impaired people
|
rope made from bamboo or cane
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Verb
cane (third-person singular simple present canes, present participle caning, simple past and past participle caned)
- To strike or beat with a cane or similar implement.
- (transitive) To make or furnish with cane or rattan.
- to cane chairs
- 2018 March 14, Bryan MacKay, Paddle Maryland: A Guide to Rivers, Creeks, and Water Trails, JHU Press, →ISBN, page 38:
- In colonial days, threesquare was used to cane chair seats.
- (UK, New Zealand, slang) To destroy; to comprehensively defeat.
- Mudchester Rovers were caned 10-0.
- (UK, New Zealand, slang) To do something well, in a competent fashion.
- (UK, slang) To go very fast.
- Synonym: cane it
- (UK, Australia, slang, intransitive) To produce extreme pain.
- Don’t hit me with that. It really canes!
- Mate, my legs cane!
Translations
to beat with a cane
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Anagrams
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Corsican
Etymology
From Latin canis, canem (“dog”). Cognates with Italian cane, French chien, Sicilian cani.
Pronunciation
Noun
cane m (plural cani, feminine cagna)
- (Cismontane dialects) dog (Canis familiaris)
Synonyms
- (Ultramontane dialects) ghjacaru
References
- “cane, cani” in INFCOR: Banca di dati di a lingua corsa
French
Etymology
Inherited from Middle French cane (“duck, female duck”, literally “loater, little boat”), from Old French cane (“boat, ship; waterbird”), from Middle Low German kane (“boat”), from Proto-Germanic *kaną (“boat, vessel”). See Proto-Germanic *kanô (“boat, vessel”). Cognate with Norwegian kane (“swan-shaped vessel”), Dutch kaan (“boat”), German Kahn (“boat”), Old Norse kæna (“little boat”), and possibly Old Norse knǫrr (“ship”) (whence also Late Latin canardus (“ship”), from Germanic; and Old English cnearr (“merchant ship”)). Related to French canot (“little boat”).
Pronunciation
Noun
cane f (plural canes)
- duck (female duck)
Related terms
Further reading
- “cane”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
Italian
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From the Latin canis, canem (“dog”). Cognate with Sicilian cani.
Noun
cane m (plural cani, feminine cagna, diminutive canìno m or canìna f or cagnétto m or cagnétta f or cagnettìno m or cagnettìna f, augmentative cagnóne, pejorative cagnàccio, endearing cagnolìno)
Derived terms
Related terms
Adjective
cane (invariable)
See also
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Noun
cane f
Adjective
cane
Anagrams
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Latin
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈka.nɛ]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈkaː.ne]
Verb
cane
Noun
cane
References
- "cane", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- “cane”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly
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Middle English
Etymology 1
From Old French cane, from Latin canna, from Ancient Greek κάννα (kánna), from Akkadian 𒄀 (qanû, “reed”), from Sumerian 𒄀𒈾 (gi.na).
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Noun
cane (plural canes)
- bamboo, sugar cane, flax, or a similar simple-stemmed plant
- the stem or stalk of such a plant, often used to write with
- (rare) a metal implement used for surgery
- (rare) a bodily passage or tube, such as the trachea
Derived terms
Descendants
References
- “cāne, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 1 August 2018.
Etymology 2
Noun
cane
- alternative form of canne
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Old French
Etymology
Noun
cane oblique singular, f (oblique plural canes, nominative singular cane, nominative plural canes)
Descendants
Sardinian
Alternative forms
- cani (Campidanese)
Etymology
From Latin canis, canem (“dog”). Cognate with Italian cane.
Pronunciation
Noun
cane m or f (plural canes)
- (Logudorese, Nuorese) dog
- Synonym: perru
Venetan
Noun
cane
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