Adjacent Words

Canal definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CANAL, n.
1. A passage for water; a water course; properly, a long trench or excavation in the earth for conducting water, and confining it to narrow limits; but the term may be applied to other water courses. It is chiefly applied to artificial cuts or passages for water, used for transportation; whereas channel is applicable to a natural water course.
The canal from the Hudson to Lake Erie is one of the noblest works of art.
2. In anatomy, a duct or passage in the body of an animal, through which any of the juices flow, or other substances pass; as the neck of the bladder, and the alimentary canal.
3. A surgical instrument; a splint.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: (astronomy) an indistinct surface feature of Mars once thought to be a system of channels; they are now believed to be an optical illusion
2: a bodily passage or tube lined with epithelial cells and conveying a secretion or other substance; "the tear duct was obstructed"; "the alimentary canal"; "poison is released through a channel in the snake's fangs" [syn: duct, epithelial duct, canal, channel]
3: long and narrow strip of water made for boats or for irrigation v
1: provide (a city) with a canal [syn: canal, canalize, canalise]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Latin canalis pipe, channel, from canna reed — more at cane Date: 15th century 1. a tubular anatomical passage or channel ; duct 2. channel, watercourse 3. an artificial waterway for navigation or for draining or irrigating land 4. any of various faint narrow lines on the planet Mars seen through telescopes and once thought by some to be canals built by Martians II. transitive verb (-nalled or -naled; -nalling or -naling) Date: 1793 to construct a canal through or across

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 an artificial waterway for inland navigation or irrigation. 2 any of various tubular ducts in a plant or animal, for carrying food, liquid, or air. 3 Astron. any of a network of apparent linear markings on the planet Mars, which are observed from earth but not at close range. Phrases and idioms: canal boat a long narrow boat for use on canals. canal ray a beam of positive ions moving through a bored hole in the cathode of a high-vacuum tube. Etymology: ME f. OF (earlier chanel) f. L canalis or It. canale

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Canal Ca*nal", n. A long and relatively narrow arm of the sea, approximately uniform in width; -- used chiefly in proper names; as, Portland Canal; Lynn Canal. [Alaska]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Canal Ca*nal", n. [F. canal, from L. canalis canal, channel; prob. from a root signifying ``to cut''; cf. D. kanaal, fr. the French. Cf. Channel, Kennel gutter.] 1. An artificial channel filled with water and designed for navigation, or for irrigating land, etc. 2. (Anat.) A tube or duct; as, the alimentary canal; the semicircular canals of the ear. Canal boat, a boat for use on a canal; esp. one of peculiar shape, carrying freight, and drawn by horses walking on the towpath beside the canal. Canal lock. See Lock.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(canals) 1. A canal is a long, narrow stretch of water that has been made for boats to travel along or to bring water to a particular area. ...the Grand Union Canal. ...Venetian canals and bridges. N-COUNT 2. A canal is a narrow tube inside your body for carrying food, air, or other substances. ...delaying the food's progress through the alimentary canal. N-COUNT: usu supp N

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Artificial water-way. 2. Channel, duct, pipe, tube.

Moby Thesaurus

Eustachian tube, Fallopian tube, aqueduct, arroyo, bed, bottleneck, canalization, canalize, carve, chamfer, channel, chisel, conduit, corrugate, course, crack, creek bed, crimp, culvert, cut, dado, defile, dike, ditch, donga, dry bed, duct, emunctory, engrave, entrenchment, fistula, flume, flute, fosse, furrow, gash, goffer, gouge, groove, gulch, gully, gullyhole, gutter, ha-ha, headrace, incise, intestines, irrigation ditch, isthmus, kennel, meatus, moat, narrow, narrows, neck, nullah, ostium, oviduct, pass, pleat, plow, pore, rabbet, race, rifle, river bed, riverway, runnel, rut, salpinx, score, scratch, slit, sluice, spillbox, spillway, strait, streak, stream bed, streamway, striate, sunk fence, swash, swash channel, tailrace, thoracic duct, throat, trench, trough, ureter, urethra, vagina, vas, vessel, wadi, water carrier, water channel, water furrow, water gap, water gate, watercourse, waterway, waterworks, wrinkle