cane

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). Related to channel and canal.

• IPA^(key): /keɪn/

• Audio (US) [kʰẽːn]

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪn
• Homophone: Cain

cane (countable and uncountable, plural canes)

1. A plant with simple stems, like bamboo or sugar cane, or the stem thereof
   1. (uncountable) The slender, flexible main stem of a plant such as bamboo, including many species in the grass family Gramineae

      Synonyms: stem, stalk, (of a tree) trunk

   2. (uncountable) The plant itself, including many species in the grass family Gramineae; a reed

      Synonym: reed

   3. (uncountable) Sugar cane
      • 1907, Harold Bindloss, chapter 7, in The Dust of Conflict:

        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.

      Synonym: molasses cane

   4. (US, Southern) Maize or, rarely, sorghum, when such plants are processed to make molasses (treacle) or sugar
2. The stem of such a plant adapted for use as a tool
   1. (countable) A short rod or stick, traditionally of wood or bamboo, used for corporal punishment.

      Synonyms: rod, switch

      • 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney: Ure Smith, published 1965, 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[.]

   2. (with "the") Corporal punishment by beating with a cane.

      The teacher gave his student the cane for throwing paper.

      Synonyms: a caning, six of the best, whipping, cuts

   3. 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.

3. a rod-shaped tool or device, somewhat like a cane
   1. (countable) A strong short staff used for support or decoration during walking; a walking stick

      After breaking his leg, he needed a cane to walk.

      • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, in The Ayrsham Mystery‎:

        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. Lincoln, chapter 10, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

        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.

      Synonyms: staff, walking stick

   2. (countable, glassblowing) A length of colored and/or patterned glass rod, used in the specific glassblowing technique called caneworking
   3. (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

4. (uncountable) Split rattan, as used in wickerwork, basketry and the like
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess:

     The half-dozen pieces […] were painted white and carved with festoons of flowers, birds and cupids. […]  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.

5. A local European measure of length; the canna.

cane (third-person singular simple present canes, present participle caning, simple past and past participle caned)

1. to strike or beat with a cane or similar implement
2. (Britain, New Zealand, slang) to destroy; to comprehensively defeat

   Mudchester Rovers were caned 10-0.

3. (Britain, New Zealand, slang) to do something well, in a competent fashion
4. (UK, slang, intransitive) to produce extreme pain

   Don't hit me with that. It really canes!

   Mate, my legs cane!

5. (transitive) To make or furnish with cane or rattan.

   to cane chairs

• -ance, Caen, Cena, Nace, acne, ance

From Latin canis, from Proto-Italic *kō, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ. Cognates include Italian cane and Romanian câine.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkanɛ/

cane m (plural cani, feminine cagna)

1. (Cismontane dialects) dog (Canis familiaris)

• (Ultramontane dialects) ghjacaru

• “cane, cani” in INFCOR: Banca di dati di a lingua corsa

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”).

• IPA^(key): /kan/

• Audio

  (file)

• Homophone: Cannes

cane f (plural canes)

1. duck (female duck)

• canard

• “cane”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• Caen

• IPA^(key): /ˈka.ne/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ane
• Hyphenation: cà‧ne

From the Latin canem, from Proto-Italic *kō (accusative *kwanem), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ (accusative *ḱwónm̥). Compare Portuguese cão, Romanian câine and Aromanian cãni.

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)

1. dog, male dog

   Hypernym: canide

2. (firearms) hammer

cane (invariable)

1. freezing, biting (of cold)

   Oggi fa un freddo cane! ― Today is freezing cold!

2. terrible, dreadful, awful (of pain)

• abbaiare
• bau

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

cane f

1. plural of cana

cane

1. feminine plural of cano

• acne, cena

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈka.ne/, [ˈkänɛ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈka.ne/, [ˈkäːne]

cane

1. second-person singular present active imperative of canō

cane

1. ablative singular of canis

• 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

From Old French cane, from Latin canna, from Ancient Greek κάννα (kánna), from Akkadian 𒄀 (qanû, “reed”), from Sumerian 𒄀𒈾 (gi.na).

• canne, kane, kanne

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaːn(ə)/

cane (plural canes)

1. bamboo, sugar cane, flax, or a similar simple-stemmed plant
2. the stem or stalk of such a plant, often used to write with
3. (rare) a metal implement used for surgery
4. (rare) a bodily passage or tube, such as the trachea

• canel

• English: cane
• Scots: cane

• “cāne, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-08-01.

cane

1. Alternative form of canne

From Latin canna (“reed, cane”).

cane f (oblique plural canes, nominative singular cane, nominative plural canes)

1. tube

• French: canne
• Norman: tchêne (Jersey), kyeen (Sark)
• → Middle English: cane, canne, kane, kanne
  • English: cane
  • Scots: cane

• cani (Campidanese)

From the Latin canem, accusative form of canis, from Proto-Italic *kō (accusative *kwanem), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ (accusative *ḱwónm̥). Compare Italian cane, Portuguese cão, Spanish can, French chien and Romanian câine.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkane/

cane m or f (plural canes)

1. (Logudorese, Nuorese) dog

   Synonym: perru

cane

1. plural of cana