Library / English Dictionary

CANAL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: canalled    , canalling   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Long and narrow strip of water made for boats or for irrigation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("canal" is a kind of...):

watercourse; waterway (a conduit through which water flows)

Meronyms (parts of "canal"):

lock; lock chamber (enclosure consisting of a section of canal that can be closed to control the water level; used to raise or lower vessels that pass through it)

lockage (a system of locks in a canal or waterway)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "canal"):

cut (a canal made by erosion or excavation)

industrial watercourse (a canal that is operated by one or more industries)

race; raceway (a canal for a current of water)

ship canal; shipway (a canal large enough for seagoing vessels)

Instance hyponyms:

New York State Barge Canal (a system of canals crossing New York State and connecting the Great Lakes with the Hudson River and Lake Champlain)

Erie Canal (an artificial waterway connecting the Hudson river at Albany with Lake Erie at Buffalo; built in the 19th century; now part of the New York State Barge Canal)

Cape Cod Canal (a canal connecting Cape Cod Bay with Buzzards Bay)

Grand Canal (the major waterway in Venice, Italy)

Grand Canal (an inland waterway 1000 miles long in eastern China; extends from Tianjin in the north to Hangzhou in the south)

Caloosahatchee Canal (a canal that connects Lake Okeechobee with the Caloosahatchee River in southern Florida to form part of the Cross-Florida Waterway)

Caledonian Canal (a canal in northern Scotland that links North Sea with the Atlantic Ocean; runs diagonally between Moray Firth at the northeastern end and Loch Linnhe at the southwestern end; now little used)

Derivation:

canal; canalise; canalize (provide (a city) with a canal)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A bodily passage or tube lined with epithelial cells and conveying a secretion or other substance

Example:

poison is released through a channel in the snake's fangs

Synonyms:

canal; channel; duct; epithelial duct

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("canal" is a kind of...):

passage; passageway (a path or channel or duct through or along which something may pass)

Meronyms (parts of "canal"):

ampulla (the dilated portion of a canal or duct especially of the semicircular canals of the ear)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "canal"):

aqueductus cerebri; cerebral aqueduct; Sylvian aqueduct (a canal connecting the third and fourth ventricles)

ureter (either of a pair of thick-walled tubes that carry urine from the kidney to the urinary bladder)

urethra (duct through which urine is discharged in most mammals and which serves as the male genital duct)

canalis cervicis uteri; cervical canal (a spindle-shaped canal extending from the uterus to the vagina)

umbilical; umbilical cord (membranous duct connecting the fetus with the placenta)

vagina (the lower part of the female reproductive tract; a moist canal in female mammals extending from the labia minora to the uterus)

epididymis (a convoluted tubule in each testis; carries sperm to vas deferens)

ductus deferens; vas deferens (a duct that carries spermatozoa from the epididymis to the ejaculatory duct)

seminal duct (the efferent duct of the testis in man)

ejaculatory duct (a part of the seminal duct formed by the duct from the seminal vesicle and the vas deferens; passes through the prostate gland)

cartilaginous tube (a duct with cartilaginous walls)

bronchiole (any of the smallest bronchial ducts; ending in alveoli)

alimentary canal; alimentary tract; digestive tract; digestive tube; gastrointestinal tract; GI tract (tubular passage of mucous membrane and muscle extending about 8.3 meters from mouth to anus; functions in digestion and elimination)

lactiferous duct (ducts of the mammary gland that carry milk to the nipple)

salivary duct (a duct through which saliva passes from the salivary gland into the mouth)

lymph vessel; lymphatic vessel (a vascular duct that carries lymph which is eventually added to the venous blood circulation)

pancreatic duct (a duct connecting the pancreas with the intestine)

bile duct; common bile duct (a duct formed by the hepatic and cystic ducts; opens into the duodenum)

canalis inguinalis; inguinal canal (oblique passage through the lower abdominal wall; in males it is the passage through which the testes descend into the scrotum and it contains the spermatic cord; in females it transmits the round ligament of the uterus)

hepatic duct (the duct that drains bile from the liver)

Haversian canal (any of the many tiny canals that contain blood vessels and connective tissue and that form a network in bone)

nasolacrimal duct (a duct that carries tears from the lacrimal sac to the nasal cavity)

lachrymal duct; lacrimal duct; tear duct (any of several small ducts that carry tears from the lacrimal glands)

sinus; venous sinus (a wide channel containing blood; does not have the coating of an ordinary blood vessel)

canal of Schlemm; Schlemm's canal; sinus venosus sclerae (a circular canal in the eye that drains aqueous humor from the anterior chamber of the eye into the anterior ciliary veins)

canaliculus (a small canal or duct as in some bones and parts of plants)

ductule; ductulus (a very small duct)

canalis vertebralis; spinal canal; vertebral canal (the canal in successive vertebrae through which the spinal cord passes)

pore (any small opening in the skin or outer surface of an animal)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(astronomy) an indistinct surface feature of Mars once thought to be a system of channels; they are now believed to be an optical illusion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("canal" is a kind of...):

channel (a deep and relatively narrow body of water (as in a river or a harbor or a strait linking two larger bodies) that allows the best passage for vessels)

Domain category:

astronomy; uranology (the branch of physics that studies celestial bodies and the universe as a whole)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Provide (a city) with a canal

Synonyms:

canal; canalise; canalize

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "canal" is one way to...):

furnish; provide; render; supply (give something useful or necessary to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

canal (long and narrow strip of water made for boats or for irrigation)

canalisation; canalization (the production of a canal or a conversion to canals)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Another type of defect, Chiari malformation, causes the brain tissue to extend into the spinal canal.

(Neural Tube Defects, NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development)

Pancreatic proteolytic enzymes include trypsin, chymotrypsin and carboxypeptidase; these enzymes are secreted as zymogens, inactive precursors of the enzymes, and are activated in the lumen of the digestive canal.

(Pancreatic Proteolytic Enzymes, NCI Thesaurus)

A suspension intended for administration either on the outer ear or into the auditory canal.

(Otic Suspension Dosage Form, NCI Thesaurus)

They engineered an antibiotic-containing gel that can be inserted directly inside the ear canal.

(Developing novel ear infection treatments, NIH)

When the one chair in the room was at its usual place before the table, the canal was unnavigable.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Microscopic channels in the compact bone that run perpendicular to the Haversian canals.

(Perforating Canal, NCI Thesaurus)

The 60,000 newly discovered structures include raised highways, urban centers with sidewalks, homes, terraces, industrial-sized agricultural fields, irrigation canals, ceremonial centers, a 30-meter high pyramid, fortresses and moats.

(Hidden Mayan Civilization Revealed in Guatemala Jungle, VOA)

Water from canals also may have carried harmful protozoa, bacteria and viruses.

(Scientists chart a baby boom in southwestern Native Americans from 500 to 1300 A.D., NSF)

When activated, they allow electrically charged ions to flow in and out of cells like water through an unlocked canal.

(Eye cells may use math to detect motion, NIH)

A fetal position during delivery in which the spine of the fetus is not aligned with the mother's resulting in the descent into the birth canal in an oblique position.

(Oblique Fetal Presentation, NCI Thesaurus)