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cane

Pronunciation: /keɪn/
Translate cane | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of cane

noun

  • 1the hollow jointed stem of a tall grass, especially bamboo or sugar cane, or the stem of a slender palm such as rattan.
  • any plant that produces canes.
  • [mass noun] stems of bamboo, rattan, or wicker used as a material for making furniture or baskets: [as modifier]:a cane coffee table
  • short for sugar cane.
  • a flexible woody stem of the raspberry plant or any of its relatives: raspberry canes
  • 2a length of cane or a slender stick, especially one used as a support for plants, a walking stick, or an instrument of punishment: tie the shoot to a cane if vertical growth is required
  • (the cane) a form of corporal punishment used in certain schools, involving beating with a cane:wrong answers were rewarded by the cane

verb

[with object]
  • 1beat with a cane as a punishment: Matthew was caned for bullying by the headmaster
  • British informal defeat heavily or punish severely:they have caned Essex and Durham in the Championship
  • 2British informal take (drink or drugs) in large quantities:the others were probably out caning it in some bar

Derivatives

caner

noun

Origin:

late Middle English: from Old French, via Latin from Greek kanna, kannē, of Semitic origin

cane in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of cane in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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