Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense, plural canes, present participle caning, past tense, past participle caned
1. variable noun [oft NOUN noun]
Cane is used to refer to the long, hollow, hard stems of plants such as bamboo. Strips of cane are often used to make furniture, and some types of cane can be crushed and processed to make sugar.
...cane furniture.
...cane sugar.
Bamboo produces an annual crop of cane.
Dig out and burn infected canes.
2. countable noun
A cane is a long thin stick with a curved or round top which you can use to support yourself when you are walking, or which in the past was fashionable to carry with you.
He wore a grey suit and leaned heavily on his cane.
3. countable noun
A cane is a long, thin, flexible stick which in the past was used to hit people, especially children at school, as a punishment.
Until the 1980s, some criminals were still flogged with a rattan cane as a punishment.
The cane is used to refer to the punishment of being hit with a cane.
In school, you knew if you misbehaved you would get the cane.
4. verb
If a child is caned, he or she is hit with a cane as a punishment.
In Wales in the same era, boys were caned for speaking Welsh in the playground. [be/getV-ed for -ing/n]
[Also be/getV-ed]
5. countable noun
A cane is a tall, narrow stick, usually made of bamboo, which is used for supporting plants.
6. See also sugar cane
cane in British English1
(keɪn)
noun
1.
a.
the long jointed pithy or hollow flexible stem of the bamboo, rattan, or any similar plant
b.
any plant having such a stem
2.
a.
strips of such stems, woven or interlaced to make wickerwork, the seats and backs of chairs, etc
b.
(as modifier)
a cane chair
3.
the woody stem of a reed, young grapevine, blackberry, raspberry, or loganberry
4.
any of several grasses with long stiff stems, esp Arundinaria gigantea of the southeastern US
5.
a flexible rod with which to administer a beating as a punishment, as to schoolboys
6.
a slender rod, usually wooden and often ornamental, used for support when walking; walking stick
7. sugar cane
8.
a slender rod or cylinder, as of glass
verb(transitive)
9.
to whip or beat with or as if with a cane
10.
to make or repair with cane
11. informal
to defeat
we got well caned in the match
12. cane it
Derived forms
caner (ˈcaner)
noun
Word origin
C14: from Old French, from Latin canna, from Greek kanna, of Semitic origin; related to Arabic qanāh reed
cane in British English2
(keɪn)
noun
dialect
a female weasel
Word origin
C18: of unknown origin
cane in American English
(keɪn)
noun
1.
the slender, jointed, usually flexible stem of any of certain plants, as bamboo orrattan
2.
any plant with such a stem, as sugar cane or sorghum
3.
the woody stem of a small fruiting or flowering plant, as the blackberry or rose
4.
any of a genus (Arundinaria) of tall grasses of the S U.S.
5.
a stick or rod used for flogging
6.
a.
walking stick (sense 1)
b.
an aluminum or wooden rod with a curved handle, used for support in walking
7.
a split rattan, used in weaving chair seats, wickerwork, etc.
verb transitiveWord forms: caned or ˈcaning
8.
to flog with a cane
9.
to make or furnish (chairs, etc.) with cane
Derived forms
caner (ˈcaner)
noun
Word origin
ME & OFr canne < It canna < L, reed, cane < Gr kanna; prob. < Assyr qanū (or Heb qaneh), tube, reed < Sumerian gin
Examples of 'cane' in a sentence
cane
If the tree is tied to a cane longer than itself it will be much safer.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Loop the chicken wire in a large circle around the plant and secure with bamboo canes pushed into the ground.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
It is already in talks to sell is sugar cane business in southern China.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Drinking it next to a vat of bubbling sugar cane doesn't make it taste better than drinking it in the hotel bar.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
A By a trained monkey wearing a mask and carrying a cane.
The Sun (2016)
Rum can be made from the fermented juice of crushed sugar cane, or from molasses, which is left over when sugar is removed from the cane.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
New specimens should be cut back to 30cm and planted so that they lean hard against a wall or trunk; use a cane to wedge them in.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Or perhaps take the path that disappears into the sugar cane fields and just see what gives?
The Sun (2008)
That was far worse than actually getting the cane.
The Sun (2016)
Use pegs and canes to hold it over the leaves.
The Sun (2010)
The sugar canes are in case some bribery is needed.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
He grew up seeing trucks driving to the local sugar cane plantation.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Watching a bamboo cane spring upright when it has been laden to the ground is quite magical.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
The field was empty and the wide rows of raspberry canes ran down its length like ribs.
various & introduction by Deirdre Chapman A Roomful of Birds - Scottish short stories 1990 (1990)
Sugar cane crops were hit and wheat harvesting was suspended.
The Sun (2010)
Bodies and charred wreckage were scattered over a huge expanse of sugar cane fields around the landing site.
The Sun (2013)
The cane toad was introduced by farmers to eat pests, which it failed to do.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
To avoid this, gently insert a thin cane as far as you can up the stem.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
Bit of a problem with cane toads in Queensland.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
You'll need a cane for support when the plant gets tall.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon the bed beside him.
Arthur Conan Doyle The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)
Try to train them away from last year's canes: these carry the summer fruits and need cutting in the autumn.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
In other languages
cane
British English: cane NOUN
Cane is used to refer to the long, hollow, hard stems of plants such as bamboo.
...cane furniture.
American English: cane
Brazilian Portuguese: cana
Chinese: > 茎竹或甘蔗的
European Spanish: caña
French: rotin
German: Rohr
Italian: bambù
Japanese: 茎
Korean: > 줄기대나무 등의
European Portuguese: cana
Latin American Spanish: caña
All related terms of 'cane'
cane it
to do something with great power, force, or speed or consume something such as alcohol in large quantities
cane rat
a tropical African cavy-like hystricomorph rodent , Thryonomys swinderianus, that lives in swampy regions: family Thryonomyidae
cane toad
a large toad , Rhinella marina , native to Central and South America but introduced into many countries to control insects and other pests of sugar-cane plantations
dumb-cane
a West Indian aroid plant, Dieffenbachia seguine , chewing the stem of which induces speechlessness by paralysing the throat muscles
built cane
bamboo split into strips of triangular section, tapered , and glued to form a stiff but flexible hexagonal rod: used, esp formerly, for making fishing rods
candy cane
a form of confectionery in the shape of a walking stick , usually striped pink and white
cane chair
a chair , the back and seat of which are made of interlaced strips of cane
cane grass
any of several tall perennial hard-stemmed grasses, esp Eragrostis australasica, of inland swamps
cane piece
(in the Caribbean ) a field of sugar cane , esp a peasant's isolated field
cane sugar
the sucrose obtained from sugar cane , which is identical to that obtained from sugar beet
lawyer cane
any of various kinds of entangling and thorny vegetation , such as the rattan palm, esp in tropical areas
split cane
bamboo split into strips of triangular section, tapered , and glued to form a stiff but flexible hexagonal rod : used, esp formerly, for making fishing rods
sugar cane
Sugar cane is a tall tropical plant. It is grown for the sugar that can be obtained from its thick stems .
switch cane
a small bamboo ( Arundinaria tecta ) native to the SE U.S.
sword cane
a weapon consisting of a sword or dagger concealed within a walking stick
Malacca cane
a lightweight walking stick of rattan , often mottled brown
swagger cane
a short cane or stick carried on occasion mainly by army officers
raspberry cane
a long thin stalk on which raspberries grow
gold-headed cane
a long thin stick with a curved or round top made of gold
cutting grass
a tropical African cavy-like hystricomorph rodent , Thryonomys swinderianus, that lives in swampy regions: family Thryonomyidae
giant toad
a large toad , Rhinella marina , native to Central and South America but introduced into many countries to control insects and other pests of sugar-cane plantations
marine toad
a large toad , Rhinella marina , native to Central and South America but introduced into many countries to control insects and other pests of sugar-cane plantations
Queensland cane toad
a toad , Bufo marinus, introduced into Queensland from Hawaii to control insect pests , becoming a pest itself
malacca
the stem of the rattan palm
swagger stick
a short cane or stick carried on occasion mainly by army officers