Canal

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. An artificial channel filled with water and designed for
        navigation, or for irrigating land, etc.


        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Anat.) A tube or duct; as, the alimentary canal; the
        semicircular canals of the ear.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. 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 1913 Suppl.]
  
     {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}.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  canal
       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}, {channel}]
       3: long and narrow strip of water made for boats or for
          irrigation
       v : provide (a city) with a canal [syn: {canalize}, {canalise}]
       [also: {canalling}, {canalled}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  104 Moby Thesaurus words for "canal":
     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
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  CANAL. A trench dug for leading water in a particular direction, and 
  confining it. 
       2. Public canals are generally protected by the law which authorizes 
  their being made. Various points have arisen under numerous laws authorizing 
  the construction of canals, which have been decided in cases reported in 1 
  Yeates, 430; 1 Binn. 70; 1 Pennsyl. 462; 2 Pennsyl. 517; 7 Mass. 169; 1 
  Sumu. 46; 20 Johns. 103, 735; 2 Johns. 283; 7 John. Ch. 315; 1 Wend. 474; 5 
  Wend. 166; 8 Wend. 469; 4 Wend. 667; 6 Cowen, 698; 7 Cowen, 526 4 Hamm. 253; 
  5 Hamm. 141, 391; 6 Hamm. 126; 1 N. H. Rep. 339; See River.