canes

Noun

cane (countable and uncountable, plural canes)

1. (uncountable) The slender, flexible main stem of a plant such as bamboo, including many species in the grass family Gramineae.

   Synonyms:

   stem, stalk, trunk

2. (uncountable) The plant itself, including many species in the grass family Gramineae; a reed.

   Synonyms:

   reed

3. (uncountable) Sugar cane.
   • Still, a dozen men with rifles, and cartridges to match, stayed behind when they filed through a white aldea lying silent amid the cane, and the Sin Verguenza swung into slightly quicker stride.1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 7, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   molasses cane

4. (Southern, US) Maize or, rarely, sorghum, when such plants are processed to make molasses (treacle) or sugar.
5. (countable) A short rod or stick, traditionally of wood or bamboo, used for corporal punishment.
   • He stalked behind her simple narrative, a kill-joy parent, hasty, intolerant, keeping a special cane to enforce the authority of his sadistic God[.]1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, page 123

   Synonyms:

   rod, switch

6. (with-definite-article) Corporal punishment by beating with a cane.
   • The teacher gave his student the cane for throwing paper.

   Synonyms:

   a caning, six of the best, whipping, cuts

See all 19 meanings of cane