Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A slender, strong but often flexible stem, as of certain bamboos, reeds, or rattans.
- noun A plant having such a stem.
- noun Such stems or strips of such stems used for wickerwork or baskets.
- noun A bamboo (Arundinaria gigantea) native to the southeast United States, having long stiff stems and often forming canebrakes.
- noun The stem of a raspberry, blackberry, certain roses, or similar plants.
- noun Sugar cane.
- noun A stick used as an aid in walking or carried as an accessory.
- noun A rod used for flogging.
- noun A glass cylinder made of smaller, variously colored glass rods that have been fused together, used in glassmaking.
- transitive verb To make, supply, or repair with flexible woody material.
- transitive verb To hit or beat with a rod.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To beat or flog with a cane or walking-stick.
- To furnish or complete with cane; fill the center of the back or the seat with interwoven strips of cane: as, to
cane chairs. - noun In Scotland, rent paid in kind, as in poultry, eggs, etc.; hence, any tax, tribute, or duty exacted.
- noun An obsolete form of
khan . - noun An obsolete form of
can . - noun A slender stick or rod of some substance such as sealing-wax, sulphur, glass, or tobacco.
- noun A slender panic-grass, Panicum dichotomum, a valuable native forage for sheep in the southern United States.
- noun A rather long and slender jointed woody stem, more or less rigid, hollow or pithy, as that of some palms, grasses, and other plants, such as the ratan, bamboo, and sugar-cane; also, the stem of raspberries or blackberries.
- noun Sugar-cane: as, a plantation of cane; cane-sugar.
- noun The plant Arundinaria macrosperma of the southern United States, forming cane-brakes. See
Arundinaria . - noun The stem of a plant, as the bamboo, used as a walking-stick; hence, any walking-stick.
- noun A lance or dart made of cane.
- noun A chair having the seat, or the seat and back, made of thin strips of cane, retaining their natural smooth surface, interlaced or woven together.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To beat with a cane.
- transitive verb To make or furnish with cane or rattan.
- noun A name given to several peculiar palms, species of Calamus and Dæmanorops, having very long, smooth flexible stems, commonly called rattans.
- noun Any plant with long, hard, elastic stems, as reeds and bamboos of many kinds; also, the sugar cane.
- noun Stems of other plants are sometimes called canes.
- noun A walking stick; a staff; -- so called because originally made of one of the species of cane.
- noun rare A lance or dart made of cane.
- noun A local European measure of length. See
Canna . - noun (Zoö.) A beetle
(Oberea bimaculata) which, in the larval state, bores into pith and destroy the canes or stalks of the raspberry, blackberry, etc. - noun a mill for grinding sugar canes, for the manufacture of sugar.
- noun the crushed stalks and other refuse of sugar cane, used for fuel, etc.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun uncountable The slender, flexible main
stem of a plant such asbamboo , including many species in the Grass familyGramineae . - noun uncountable The plant itself, including many species in the Grass family
Gramineae ; areed . - noun uncountable
sugar cane . (US, Southern) Sometimes applied tomaize or rarely tosorghum when such plants are processed to makemolasses (treacle ) or sugar. - noun countable A short
rod orstick , traditionally of wood or bamboo, used forcorporal punishment . - noun countable, glassblowing A length of colored and/or patterned glass rod, used in the specific
glassblowing technique calledcaneworking . - noun uncountable Corporal punishment by beating with a cane; the cane.
- noun countable A strong short
staff used for support or decoration during walking; awalking stick . - noun countable A long
rod oftencollapsible and commonly white (for visibility to other persons), used by blind persons for guidance in determining theircourse and for probing forobstacles in their path. - verb To
strike orbeat with a cane or similar implement. - verb UK, New Zealand, slang To
destroy . - verb UK, New Zealand, slang To do something well, in a competent fashion.
- verb UK It
hurts . - verb transitive To make or furnish with cane or
rattan .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Morefield Storey, one of Sumners biographers, says Brookss cane was a heavy gutta-percha cane and that the blows were continued until the cane broke.
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"_Not with the cane, not with the cane_, Mackworth," cried several voices in agitation, but not in time to prevent the cane descending with heavy hand across the child's back.
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On a per-acre basis, sugar cane is about 6 times more efficient than corn at converting sunlight to ethanol.
Ethanol Enthusiasts, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009
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Another nice thing about a cane is that it's an indicator to others that Something Is Afoot, and they don't (usually) grumble about your needing to sit while they are standing and often give you a little more space to maneuver.
mrissa: Milestone mrissa 2010
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The green seas of sugar cane give way to scared charred fields when the cane is cut, looking like dead alien landscapes.
Zafra 2009
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And it's good news to hear soda might contain cane sugar again ... my favorite 'coke in a bottle' I love because it's not as sweet (ie, not made w/corn syrup).
Dr Pepper and peanuts | Homesick Texan Homesick Texan 2008
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When sugar cane is being processed into sugar, the juice from crushed or pressed sugar cane is boiled to prompt the crystallization process.
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It's a shipping center for coconuts, bananas, limes, avocados, mangoes and sugar cane from the local plantations.
Walking the walk, talking the talk - Atlantis in Mexico part 2 2007
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It's a shipping center for coconuts, bananas, limes, avocados, mangoes and sugar cane from the local plantations.
Walking the walk, talking the talk - Atlantis in Mexico part 2 2007
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The ivory skull handle on this rosewood walking cane is quite amazing.
Boing Boing 2006
mollusque commented on the word cane
Citation at budwood.
September 7, 2008