▪ I. cane, n.1
(keɪn)
Also 5 canne, can.
[ME. canne, cane, a. OF. cane, later canne (= Pr. cana, Sp. caña, It. canna):—L. canna, a. Gr. κάννα, κάννη, reed, perh. from Semitic: cf. Heb. qāneh, Arab. qanāh reed, cane. In Latin the sense was extended from ‘(hollow) reed or cane’ to ‘tube or pipe’, a sense retained in Romanic, and prominent in the derivatives canneau, cannella, etc.]
1. a. The hollow jointed ligneous stem of various giant reeds or grasses, as Bamboo and Sugar cane, and the solid stem of some of the more slender palms, esp. the genus Calamus (the Rattan); also the stem of the Raspberry and its congeners.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xii. ix. (1495) 419 A noyse as it were wyth a canne other a grete reyd. c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 645 Hec canna, cane. c 1475 Ibid. 763 Hic calamus, a cane. 1481 Caxton Myrr. ii. x. 89 Ther growe in many places [of ynde] canes..ful of sugre. 1620 Venner Via Recta vi. 101 The Sugar is nothing else but the iuyce of certaine Canes or Reedes. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. II. xlvi. 152 The best Canes in the World grow hereabout. 1783 Cowper Task i. 39 Now came the cane from India, smooth and bright With Nature's varnish. 1861 Delamer Kitch. Gard. 163 As soon as the last dish of fruit [raspberries] has been gathered, cut down..every cane on which it has grown. 1880 Howells Undisc. Country xiii. 189 The canes of the blackberries and raspberries in the garden were tufted with dark green. |
b. contextually = Sugar-cane.
| 1781 Cowper Charity 190 Has God then given its sweetness to the cane..in vain? 1837 H. Martineau Soc. Amer. II. 52 Some of the southern newspapers have recommended the substitution of beet for canes. |
c. As name of a substance, without plural: usually the stem of the rattan or other palm.
| Mod. A piece of cane. Ribs of whalebone or split cane. |
d. U.S. (
a) Canes collectively; (
b) a field of cane; (
c)
= cane-brake (a).
| 1784 J. Filson Discovery Kentucke 18 This great tract is..covered with cane, wild rye, and clover. 1796 B. Hawkins Let. in Georgia Hist. Soc. Coll. IX. 14 There is plenty of young cane and provisions. 1836 J. Hall Statistics of West ii. 27 The inhabitants drive their cattle to the cane in the autumn. 1847 in D. Drake Life Kentucky (1870) i. 14 Their practice was..to..lodge separately among the cane, which flourished in great luxuriance. 1925 Z. A. Tilghman Dugout 91 George secured men to..put in a crop of kafir and cane. |
2. Hence, with various defining words,
bamboo cane,
dragon cane,
rattan cane,
reed cane,
sugar cane; see
bamboo, etc.
Malacca cane, a species (
Calamus Scipionum) much thicker than the rattan, used for walking-sticks;
Tobago cane, a slender West Indian palm, used for the same purpose. Also in the names of plants which are not canes: as
dumb cane, an araceous plant,
Dieffenbachia seguina;
Indian cane,
Canna indica (family Marantaceæ);
sweet cane, the Sweet Flag,
Acorus Calamus.
| 1611 Bible Isa. xliii. 24 Thou hast bought mee no sweete cane with money. 1611 Cotgr., Acore, Calamas aromaticus, the sweet Cane. 1842 Penny Cycl. XXIII. 227/2 The canes which grow immediately from the planted slips are called plant-canes..the canes which sprout up from the old roots, or stoles, being called rattoons. 1866 Treas. Bot. 116/1 Its [Bactris minor] stems..are said to be sometimes imported into this country under the name of Tobago canes. Ibid. 406 Dieffenbachia, It has acquired the name of Dumb Cane in the West Indies, in consequence of its fleshy cane-like stems rendering speechless any person who may happen to bite them, the juice of the plant being so excessively acrid as to..prevent articulation for several days. 1874 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 443/2 Malacca canes have frequently to be colored in parts. |
† 3. a. A dart or lance made of a reed or cane; also
fig. Obs. [
cf. Lat. uses of
calamus,
harundo.]
| 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 77 You shall see how quickly he will take up your glove, and..crush your Sophisticall canes in peeces. 1677 Sedley Ant. & Cl. Wks. 1722 I. 162 Slain..by some flying Parthian's darted Cane. a 1700 Dryden (J.) The flying skirmish of the darted cane. |
† b. play of (the) cane(s: a translation of
Sp. juego de cañas ‘skirmish with throwing canes on horsebacke one at another’ (Minsheu 1623).
Obs.| 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (1852) 92 The play of the Spanyardes that was callyd the cane. 1574 Hellowes Gueuara's Fam. Ep. (1577) 209 All the knights of the bande should..practise the play at the canes. 1627 R. Ashley Almansor 5 The Prince went downe, with all the Alcaydes..to play at the Canes. |
4. A suitable length of a cane stem, especially of one of the slender palms, prepared and used for a walking-stick, or as a rod for beating. Hence, by extension, a slender walking-stick of any sort.
| 1590 Webbe Trav. (1868) 17 In Turkie they are beaten for debt vpon the soles of their feet with a Cane. 1662 Pepys Diary 18 Apr., Sending the boy down into the cellar..I followed him with a cane, and did there beat him. 1686 Lond. Gaz. No. 2186/4 A Silver Sword, and a Cane of gilded Silver. 1722 De Foe Relig. Courtsh. i. iii. (1840) 104 There are more ways of correction than the rod and the cane. 1799 Southey Shufflebottom's Amat. Poems iv, That portly Gentleman With gold-laced hat and golden-headed cane. 1853 Arabian Nts. (Rtldg.) 100 One of the slaves..gave me so many blows with a small pliant cane. |
† 5. a. A pipe or tube; in later use,
esp. a slender glass tube, the tubular neck of a retort, or the like. [So L. and
It. canna, F.
canne.]
Obs.| 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy i. vi, They take a quil..or a large can And in the ende this stone they set than. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health lii. 23 b, The canes of the lunges [cf. L. canna gutturis]. 1605 Sylvester Du Bartas i. vi. I. 209 Least our eyes should bee As theirs that Heau'n through hollow Canes do see. 1684 R. Waller Nat. Exper. 28 Take a Glass Cane AB..seal it at A, and..fill it with Mercury. 1693 E. Halley in Phil. Trans. XVII. 652, I took a smaller Bolt-head with a proportional Cane or Neck. 1720 Ibid. XXXI. 118 Let there be provided two small Glass Canes. |
† b. cane of fire: old term for a gun or fire-arm. [16th c. F. and
It.;
cf. F.
canne á vent air-gun.]
| 1550 Edw. VI, Jrnl. in Lit. Rem. (1858) 279 With..canes of fire and bombardes assaulted the castel. 1591 Harington Orl. Fur. ix. lxvii. (R.) And brings with him his iron cane and fire, Wherewith he doth beate down and burne All those whom he to mischiefe doth desire. [1670 R. Lassels Voy. Italy I. E v, They bring home nothing but firecanes, parots, and Monkies.] |
6. Applied to a slender cylindrical stick or rod of various substances:
a. of sealing-wax or sulphur;
b. of glass (solid);
† c. of tobacco.
| a 1618 Sylvester Tobacco battered Wks. (1621) 1145 Impose so deep a Taxe On All these Ball, Leafe, Cane, and Pudding Packs. a 1612 Harington Epigr. iv. 34 (N.) Then of tobacco he a pype doth lack, Of Trinidade in cane, in leaf, or ball. 1645 Evelyn Diary (Chandos) 129 Sulphure made..casting it into canes. 1746 Phil. Trans. XLIV. 27 Concerning the effects of a cane of black sealing wax, and a cane of brimstone, in electrical experiments. 1849 A. Pellatt Curios. Glass-making 108 ‘Cane’ invariably means a solid stick of glass; and ‘tube’ hollow. 1884 Public Opinion 11 July 47/1 Glass blowers, with globes, cylinders, and canes. |
7. Put for F.
canne,
It. canna, as a measure of length.
Cf. canna2; also L.
calamus, and
reed.
At Naples
= 7 ft. 3½ in., at Toulouse 5 ft. 8
2/
3 in.; in Provence 6 ft. 5½ in.
| 1653 Urquhart Rabelais i. xxxvii, A combe which was nine hundred foot long of the Jewish Canne-measure. 1750 Beawes Lex Mercat. (1752) 891. 1769 Hamilton in Phil. Trans. LX. 9 A Neapolitan cane is two yards and half a quarter, English measure. |
8. = cannel.
| 1621 H. Ainsworth Annot. Pentat. Lev. i. 6 (1639) 6 The Cane (or channell bone) of the shoulder. |
9. Comb.:
a. attributive, as
cane-arrow,
cane-bill,
cane-bottom (hence
cane-bottoming),
cane-chair,
cane-cut,
cane-field,
cane-grass,
cane-piece,
cane-seat,
cane-slip cane-sugar,
cane-wine;
b. objective, as
cane-scraper,
cane-seller,
cane-splitter,
cane-stripper;
cane-carrying;
c. with
pa. pple., as
cane-bottomed,
cane-seated adjs.; also
cane-like adj.,
cane-wise adv.| 1874 Boutell Arms & Arm. iii. 52 Long *cane arrows..tipped..with sharp pieces of stone. |
| 1831 J. Holland Manuf. Metals I. 142 The *cane bill. |
| 1877 A. B. Edwards Up Nile ii. 40 A row of *cane-bottomed chairs. |
| 1852 Mundy Antipodes I. iv. 137 They laughed at the *cane-carrying soldiers. 1924 Glasgow Herald 16 Apr. 10, I had not imagined..that cane-carrying was peculiar to some nations and not others. |
| 1696 Lond. Gaz. No. 3213/4 *Cane-Chairs..Tables, Stands. 1710 Ibid. No. 4646/4 Richard Lewis, born in Shropshire, a Cane-chair-maker. 1850 Marg. Fuller Wom. in 19th C. (1862) 263 Light cane-chairs. |
| 1887 Pall Mall G. 5 Aug. 3/1 Three *cane-cuts over the palm of the hand. |
| 1841 J. W. Orderson Creol. xvii. 202 A *cane field bordering the road. |
| 1882 P. Robinson Under Sun iii. v. 198 The tiger..crouches among the *cane-grass. |
| 1866 Treas. Bot. I. 406/1 The stem has a *cane-like appearance. |
| 1774 J. Schaw Let. 12 Dec. in Jrnl. of Lady of Quality (1921) ii. 84 We walked thro' many *cane pieces, as they term the fields of Sugar-canes. 1861 Trollope Tales of all Countries 134 He took Mr. Leslie through his mills and over his cane-pieces. 1875 Ure Dict. Arts III. 937 The cane-pieces were strewed..in the path of the wheel, and the juice expressed flowed away through a channel or gutter. |
| 1881 Mechanic §40. 19 Beechen frames for *cane-seated chairs. |
| 1875 Ure Dict. Arts III. 936 The proper season for planting the *cane-slips. |
| 1887 Daily News 20 May 6/8 Sugar..*Cane sorts continue inactive. |
| 1855 J. F. W. Johnston Chem. Com. Life I. 255 The *cane sugars are popularly distinguished from the grape sugars by greater sweetness. |
| Ibid. 329 To this *cane-wine the negroes give the name of Guarapo. |
| c 1654 R. Flecknoe Trav. 71 The body [of the Pinto tree] growing *cane-wise. |
10. Special combs.:
cane-apple, the Strawberry-tree,
Arbutus Unedo (Chambers
Cycl. Supp. 1753);
cane-brake, (
a) a brake or thicket of canes; (
b) a genus of grasses,
Arundinaria, allied to the bamboo;
cane-brimstone, sulphur in rolls or sticks;
cane colour, the colour of cane as applied to pottery ware; pottery of this colour; also as
adj.; so
cane-coloured a. (also
transf.);
cane-fly, a West Indian insect;
cane-fruit, a commercial name for such fruit as raspberries and blackberries which grow on canes (
Cent. Dict. Suppl. 1909);
cane grass, (
a)
U.S., the plant
Arundinaria macrosperma forming the cane-brakes of the southern United States; (
b)
Austral.,
Glyceria ramigera;
cane-gun, a gun constructed in the form of a cane or walking-stick;
cane-harvester, a machine for cutting standing (sugar) canes;
cane-hole (in
Sugar-planting), the hole or trench in which the slips of sugar-cane are planted;
cane-juice, the juice of the sugar-cane;
cane-killer, a plant (
Alectra brasiliensis);
cane knife U.S., a large knife used in cutting cane;
cane-liquor = cane-juice;
cane-mill, a mill for crushing (sugar) canes;
cane-press, a machine for pressing sugar-canes;
cane-rat, any of several large African rodents, as
Thryonomys swinderianus and
Aulacodus s.;
cane-stripper, a knife for stripping and topping the stalks of the sugar-cane;
† cane-tobacco, tobacco in the form of cane (see sense 6);
cane-top U.S. (see
quot. 1833);
cane trash, (
a) the refuse of sugar-canes after the expression of the juice; (
b) (see
quot.);
cane-work, strips of cane interwoven and used to form the backs of chairs and other articles of furniture; also
attrib.;
cane-worker, one who makes articles of cane.
| 1770 South-Carolina Gaz. 18 Oct., There is a large Neck, or Island, of Swamp or *Cane-Brake Land. 1839–40 W. Irving Wolfert's R. (1855) 201 They were generally pitched..close by a canebrake, to screen us from the wind. 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. I. ii. 49 The impassable canebrakes, and the dense woods. a 1930 D. H. Lawrence Last Poems (1932) 14 So in the cane-brake he clasped his hands in delight. |
| 1787 J. Wedgwood Catalogue (ed. 6) 2 Bamboo, or *cane-coloured bisqué porcelain. 1865 L. Jewitt Wedgwoods 311 The ‘bamboo, or cane-coloured’ ware. 1866 E. Meteyard Jos. Wedgwood II. p. xxiv, Cane-colour Inkstand. 1875 ― Wedgwood Handbk. Gloss. 393 Cane-colour, ware the colour of cane... Cane-colour was applied both to ornamental and to useful purposes. 1910 W. de la Mare 3 Mulla-Mulgars xiv. 196 Short, fleecy, and cane-coloured whiskers. |
| 1750 G. Hughes Barbados, The *Cane-fly..is a small whitish fly..It is chiefly to be seen among thick-planted ripe canes. |
| 1827 Western Monthly Rev. (Cincinnati, U.S.) I. 209 The *cane grass of the vast swamps and savannahs on the Gulf of Mexico. 1898 Morris Austral Eng. 78/2 Cane-grass. 1953 A. Upfield Murder must Wait xxii. 195 A clump of low cane-grass. |
| 1750 Beawes Lex Mercat. (1752) 751, I might add Sugar..if these People had the Art to cultivate and boil the *Canes Juice. 1764 Grainger Sugar Cane i. note (R.) A nation who made use of the cane-juice as a drink. |
| 1798 A. Ellicott in Life & Lett. (1908) 159 [The country] could only be explored by using the *cane knife and hatchet. 1887 Harper's Mag. July 272/1 The children..squabbling for the possession of one cane-knife to split kindlers. |
| 1875 Ure Dict. Arts III. 941 Recent *cane-liquor contains no appreciable portion of acid to be saturated. |
| 1833 B. Silliman Man. Sugar Cane 30 The *cane mill consists of three cast iron cylinders. |
| 1876 H. Brooks Natal 116 The cane-rat or ground-rat, that feeds upon the sugar-canes, is properly more of a porcupine than a rat. 1934 Nature 7 Apr. 524/2 Another addition to the Zoo worthy of note is three young cane-rats (Aulacodus swinderianus) from West Africa. 1954 G. Durrell Bafut Beagles ii. 39, I could see we had caught a very large Cane Rat... It measured about two and a half feet in length, and was covered with a coarse brownish fur. It had a chubby, rather beaver-like face, small ears set close to the head, a thick naked tail and large naked feet. |
| 1600 Rowlands Lett. Humours Blood vi. 77 Out upon *Cane and leafe Tobacco smell. 1605 Chapman All Fools in Dodsley (1780) IV. 187 My boy once lighted A pipe of cane tobacco with a piece Of a vile ballad. 1608 Merry Dev. Edmont. in Hazl. Dodsley X. 215 Stuff'd With smoke, more chargeable than cane-tobacco. |
| 1826 J. Bradford Hist. Notes Kentucky (1932) 11 *Cane tops. 1833 B. Silliman Man. Sugar Cane 12 But a part of the planting is done with cane tops, or that portion of the Cane which is rejected in cutting it for the mill. |
| 1790 Castles in Phil. Trans. LXXX. 349 Burning the *cane trash (or straw of the cane). 1842 Penny Cycl. XXIII. 228/2 The canes..are reduced to the form of dry splinters, which are called cane-trash, and are used as fuel in heating the vessels for evaporating the juice. |
| 1858 T. Vielé Following the Drum 53 Divans of *cane-work. 1887 A. Forbes Insulinde 25 The backs of the open canework chairs. 1934 Burlington Mag. Nov. 201/2 A back formed of a single panel of cane-work is something new. |
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Cane-worker, a maker of articles in rattans, Spanish and other canes; a basket-maker. 1901 Daily Chron. 24 Aug. 5/6 W.Y...cane-worker, pleaded guilty. 1921 Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §472 Caner, cane worker,..fills in framework of baskets, wicker furniture, and other basket ware by interweaving cane. |
▪ II. † cane, n.2 Obs. form of
khan2. [
Pers. khān.] An eastern inn or caravanserai.
| 1612 Trav. four Englishm. 77 The Canes that stand in high waies..for the protection of Trauellers. 1650 Fuller Pisgah iv. i. 18 Amongst these canes or turkish innes. 1743 R. Pocock Egypt in Pinkerton Trav. XIV. 194 Several canes at Buloc, in..which strangers are accommodated. |
▪ III. cane, n.3 local.
A weasel.
| 1789 G. White Selborne xv. (1853) 61 A little reddish beast..which they call a cane. |
▪ IV. cane, n.4 var. of
cain, payment in kind.
▪ V. cane, n.5 obs. f. khan1, an eastern prince or lord.
▪ VI. cane, v.1 (
keɪn)
[f. cane n.1] 1. trans. To beat with a cane as a punishment.
| a 1667 Jer. Taylor Serm. iii. 147 (L.) That it be esteemed..more shame to fornicate than to be caned. 1715 De Foe Fam. Instruct. i. iv. (1841) Wks. I. 73 I'll cane the rascal if he don't. 1812 D'Israeli Calam. Auth. (1867) 142 To execute martial law, by caning the critic. 1825 Macaulay Ess. (1851) I. 25 Dressed up in uniforms, caned into skill. |
2. To drive (a lesson)
into (a person) with the cane.
| 1866 Newspaper I had a little Greek caned into me. |
3. To fit or set (a chair, etc.) with cane.
| 1885 Leisure Ho. Jan. 47/1 Women and children..caning or rushing the ‘bottoms’. |
▪ VII. † cane, v.2 Obs. exc. dial. To form a scum or ‘head’, as liquor in a state of fermentation, ale turning sour or becoming ‘mothery’. Hence
caned ppl. a.,
caning vbl. n.| 1483 Cath. Angl. 53 Caned, acidus. Ibid. 53 Canynge of ale, acor. 1500 Ortus Voc. ibid. 53 Acor, canynge of ale. 1847–78 Halliw., Caned, mothery. Yorksh. 1876 Robinson Mid-Yorksh. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Kêan, to scum, or throw off as recrement. Kêan, a particle of this nature. Kêaned, scummed in this wise. |