▪ I. † cannel, canel, n.1 Obs.
(ˈkænəl)
Forms: 4–6 canel, 5 canell, 5–6 kanel, 6 canelle, cannel(l, 7–8 cannal(l. See also canal.
[ME. canel, kanel, a. ONF. canel channel of a river, conduit, etc.; the central OF. form was chanel, whence the parallel ME. chanel, later channel. F. canel, chanel, correspond to Pr., Sp. canal, It. canale:—L. canāl-em pipe, groove, channel, etc. After canal was introduced in 16th c., ˈcannel gradually became obsolete, though sense 2 still exists in the form kennel, and cannel-bone, from sense 5, is in 18th c. dictionaries. In both of these senses channel also occurs as a parallel form; and all the other senses have been taken up either by channel or by canal.]
† 1. (form canel) The natural bed of a stream of water; a water-course. Obs. Now channel.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 1866 He did þe waters ga til þair canels þat þai com fra. Ibid. 22577 (Gött.) In-til hir canel [v.r. chanel] sal scho [þe se] turn, And als til þairis ilk a burn. |
† 2. (forms canel, cannel) The gutter or surface water-course in a street, or by a road. This sense still survives as kennel n.2, q.v. (The 18th c. spelling cannal was app. influenced by canal.)
| c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 335 Þei grutchiden aȝens þis water, and drunken podel water of þe canel. c 1450 Lonelich Grail xxxix. 244 Is likned to a flood..that trowbled as a kanel schal be. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 60/2 Canel, or chanelle [H. in the weye, P. in the strete], canalis [P. aquagium]. 1533 More Apol. xxxii. Wks. 896/1 They wyll..knele downe in the kanel and make their praiers in the open stretes. 1563 Homilies ii. Gluttony, etc. (1859) 303 They lie stinking in our bodies, as in a lothsome sink or canell. 1666 Pepys Diary 6 Sept., It was pretty to see how hard the women did work in the cannells, sweeping of water. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters I. 83 The common cannals in the streets. |
| fig. 1540 Elyot Image Gov. (1556) 59 All the stynkynge canelles of vice. 1657 Reeve God's Plea 92 Unravell your lives, sweep the hid corners, rake the cannels. |
† 3. (form canel) A pipe or tube; a tap for a cask. Obs.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 464 Canels or pipes wynes forth to lede Into the vat. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture in Babees Bk. 121 Looke þow haue tarrers [and] wyne canels. 1629 Church-w. Acc. Houghton-le-Spring Giuen for a spidick and a Cannell—jd. |
† 4. Channel, passage. Obs.
| 1561 Hoby tr. Castiglione's Covrtyer (1577) X ij a, When the canelles of the body be so feeble, that the soule can not through them worke hyr feates. |
† 5. The neck. Obs. = channel n.1 10, kennel n.3 [An ancient sense, the origin of which is not quite clear. Cotgr. has F. canneau du col ‘the nape of the neck’, Littré ‘le conduit qui traverse le cou’, evidently the medullary canal of the cervical vertebræ (see F. nuque in Devic). Mätzner compares also L. canālis animæ windpipe. Hence cannel-bone,]
| c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2298 Kepe þy kanel at þis kest. |
† 6. (See quot.) Obs.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 60 (MS. K.) Canel of a belle, canellus. |
7. Comb. (sense 2), canel-dung, cannel-raker (cf. kennel); (sense 5) canel-piece, a piece of armour for the neck; see also cannel-bone.
| 1593 H. Smith Serm. (1866) II. 33 When we knocked at the *cannel-door, then the good door was shut. |
| 1480 Caxton Chron. ccxlviii. 316 The women..came out with stones & *canel dunge [Fabyan 599 ‘ordure of the strete’]. |
| 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy iii. xxii, Some wolde haue of plate a bauer That on the brest fastned be a forne The *Canell pece more easy to be borne. |
| c 1500 Cocke Lorell's B. 10 Bewardes, brycke borners, and *canel rakers. 1541 Barnes Wks. (1573) 244/1 Carter or Cardinall, butcher or Byshop, tancardbearer or cannelraker. 1580 Baret Alv. C 58 A cannel raker, purgator platearum. |
▪ II. cannel, n.2
(ˈkænəl)
Forms: 6 canel, (7–8 canole, 7 cannol), 7 cannell, cannal, 8 canal, cannil, kennel, (7–8 channel, 8–9 candle), 7– cannel.
[Of northern, prob. Lancashire origin. Can'le, cannle is the Sc. and northern form of candle, and the opinion has been expressed, at least since early in the 18th c., that cannel-coal is really = ‘candle-coal’. It does not appear in evidence that the pronunciation of candle as can'le goes back in Lancashire to the 16th c., though such may be the case. A greater difficulty is that it is doubtful whether the original name was not simply canel, rather than cannel coal: see the first mention in Leland 1538. But no other etymological conjecture yet offered will bear examination. The following quotations refer to the derivation:
a 1734 North Lives I. 294 Famous for yielding the Canal (or Candle) coal. It is so termed, as I guess, because the manufacturers in that country use no candle, but work by the light of their coal fire. 1796 Kirwan Min. II. 52 Cannel Coal. This is found chiefly in Lancashire, its proper name is Candle Coal, as it burns like a Candle, but Candles in that shire are called Cannels. 1811 Pinkerton Petral. I. 572 Cannel coal, so called from the enunciation of the word candle, in Scotland and the north of England, because its flame is clear and pure, like that of a candle. 1836 Sir G. Head Home Tour 14 It seems to be the general opinion that having been used to light the men at their work, and serving as candle, it became by corruption ‘Cannel’ coal. 1875 Robinson Whitby Gloss. (E.D.S.) Cannle, a candle. Cannle-coal or kennel-coal, so called because it burns without smoke like a candle.]
A bituminous coal (in Scotland called parrot-coal), which burns with a very bright flame, and, from its richness in volatile matter, is much used in the manufacture of coal oils and gas: its texture is sufficiently compact and hard to allow of its being cut and polished like jet.
| 1538 Leland Itin. VII. 47 Mr. Bradeshau hath a place caullid Hawe a myle from Wigan. He hath founde moche Canel like Se Coole in his Grounde very profitable to hym. 1673 R. Blome Brittania in N. & Q. Ser. iii. VII. 485/1 Wigan is famous for..the choicest Coal in England called cannell. 1690 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Cannal, choice Coals..that Blaze and Burn pleasantly. 1700 Leigh Lanc. & Chesh. in N. & Q. Ser. iii. VII. 485/2 The Kennel near Haigh, from which by distillation in a retort, will come over a very severe vitriolic water. 1836 Sir G. Head Home Tour 14 In Liverpool and elsewhere it is advertised by boards and placards ‘Coal and Cannel sold here’. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. App. 437 Boghead Cannel..was once a mass of mud. 1864 Daily Tel. 16 July Advt., The ‘Curly’ Cannel of a small district in Flintshire yields a larger percentage of crude mineral oil..than any cannel. |
| attrib. 1869 Roscoe Elem. Chem. 98 Cannel gas is said to be equal to 34.4 candles. |
b. Also called cannel coal.
| 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 735 Commonly called Canole cole. 1679 Plot Staffordsh. (1686) 125 The Cannel-coal being the hardest..will take a passable polish. a 1728 Woodward (J.) Our canal-coal nearly equals the foreign jet. 1773 Gentl. Mag. May, A head of his present majesty, cut in cannil coal. 1878 Green Coal i. 30 Cannel coal does not soil the fingers. |
c. Occasionally, also channel coal, by assoc. with cannel n.1 and its variant channel.
| 1669 Lister in Ray's Philos. Lett. (1718) 55, I do think them not Channel because they burn with much Difficulty. 1751 S. Whatley Eng. Gazeteer, Wigan (Lanc.) Channel-coal, which..may be taken up in a handkerchief without soiling it... They make snuff-boxes and other toys of it. |
d. Often (since 1700) written candle-coal.
| 1734 [see above]. 1769 De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. III. 281 Between Wigan and Bolton, is found great Plenty of what they call Canel or Candle Coal. 1793 Statist. Acc. Scotl. VII. 424 (Jam.) At Blair, beds of an inflammable substance, having some resemblance of jet, here called candle-coal, or light coal. 1805 Forsyth Beauties Scotl. II. 467 That light, hard, grey-coloured species called here candle coal. |
▪ III. † ˈcannel, v. Obs. Sc.
[a. F. canne-ler.]
‘To channel, to chamfer’ (Jamieson).
▪ IV. cannel, -ell
var. canel, Obs., Sc. f. candle.