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canopy

Syllabification: (can·o·py)
Pronunciation: /ˈkanəpē/
Translate canopy | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of canopy

noun (plural canopies)

  • an ornamental cloth covering hung or held up over something, especially a throne or bed:a romantic four-poster bed complete with drapes and a canopy figurativea full moon and a canopy of stars
  • Architecture a rooflike projection or shelter:they mounted the station steps under the concrete canopy
  • the transparent plastic or glass cover of an aircraft’s cockpit.
  • the expanding, umbrellalike part of a parachute, made of silk or nylon.
  • [in singular] the uppermost trees or branches of the trees in a forest, forming a more or less continuous layer of foliage:monkeys spend hours every day sitting high in the canopy

verb (canopies, canopying, canopied)

[with object] (usually as adjective canopied)
  • cover or provide with a canopy:a canopied bed the river was canopied by overhanging trees

Origin:

late Middle English: from medieval Latin canopeum 'ceremonial canopy', alteration of Latin conopeum 'mosquito net over a bed', from Greek kōnōpeion 'couch with mosquito curtains', from kōnōps 'mosquito'

canopy in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of canopy in the British & World English dictionary
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