Cannon

A cannon is any large tubular firearm designed to fire a heavy projectile over a considerable distance. The term can apply to a modern day rifled machine gun with a calibre of 20 mm or more (see autocannon).

Related Topics:
Rifled - Machine gun - Calibre - Autocannon

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Cannon also refers to a large, smooth-bored, muzzle-loading gun used before the advent of breech-loading, rifled guns firing explosive shells.

Related Topics:
Muzzle-loading - Gun - Breech-loading - Rifled - Shell

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"Cannon" derives from the Latin canna (a tube). Bombard was early used for "cannon", but from the early 15th century came to refer only to the largest weapons. "Cannon" can serve both as the singular and plural of the noun.

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