Cannonballs

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of heavy projectile originally fired from a cannon, typically made of iron or steel
2. an object used historically in warfare to cause destruction or damage
3. a metaphor for something powerful and impacting, often used in various contexts to denote strength or forcefulness

Etymology: "Cannonballs" is the plural of "cannonball," so its story is really the story of its two parts. "Cannon" comes from the Italian "cannone," a large gun, itself an augmentative of "canna," meaning tube or reed, and that Latin-derived root is the same one behind "cane." "Ball" is an older English word for a round object, so a cannonball is simply a round ball fired from a cannon. The compound is transparent in a way many words are not: nothing about it has been worn down by time. Its meaning has stayed close to its literal sense, a rounded missile launched from a gun barrel, which is why the word has changed so little since the guns it describes first appeared.

Synonyms: projectiles, missiles