cane

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A slender, strong but often flexible stem, as of certain bamboos, reeds, or rattans.
2. n. A plant having such a stem.
3. n. Such stems or strips of such stems used for wickerwork or baskets.
4. n. A bamboo (Arundinaria gigantea) native to the southeast United States, having long stiff stems and often forming canebrakes.
5. n. The stem of a raspberry, blackberry, certain roses, or similar plants.
6. n. Sugar cane.
7. n. A stick used as an aid in walking or carried as an accessory.
8. n. A rod used for flogging.
9. v. To make, supply, or repair with flexible woody material.
10. v. To hit or beat with a rod.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A rather long and slender jointed woody stem, more or less rigid, hollow or pithy, as that of some palms, grasses, and other plants, such as the ratan, bamboo, and sugar-cane; also, the stem of raspberries or blackberries.
2. n. Sugar-cane: as, a plantation of cane; cane-sugar.
3. n. The plant Arundinaria macrosperma of the southern United States, forming cane-brakes. See Arundinaria.
4. n. The stem of a plant, as the bamboo, used as a walking-stick; hence, any walking-stick. The word was not applied to a walking-stick earlier than the sixteenth century; a cane “garnished with gold having a perfume in the top” and other conveniences attached to it is mentioned in an inventory of Henry VIII.'s time; but it was not until the reign of Louis XIV. that the cane became almost universal in the hands of men of quality. At this time canes were generally made of the length now common, that is, 2 feet 10 inches to 3 feet; but in the eighteenth century it became usual to have them very long, 4 feet or more, and ornamented with a great bunch of ribbons tied near the top. Such canes were carried by women as well as men. The heads of these canes frequently contained perfume-bottles or vinaigrettes; they were sometimes fitted with eye-glasses, which could be opened and shut; and occasionally a crutch-shaped handle was utilized as a small telescope, the cross-piece being made tubular and fitted with lenses. The heads were of porcelain, enameled metal, and other rich materials. See sword-cane and pistol-cane.
5. n. A lance or dart made of cane.
6. n. A chair having the seat, or the seat and back, made of thin strips of cane, retaining their natural smooth surface, interlaced or woven together.
7. To beat or flog with a cane or walking-stick.
8. To furnish or complete with cane; fill the center of the back or the seat with interwoven strips of cane: as, to cane chairs.
9. n. In Scotland, rent paid in kind, as in poultry, eggs, etc.; hence, any tax, tribute, or duty exacted.
10. n. An obsolete form of can.
11. n. An obsolete form of khan.
12. n. A slender stick or rod of some substance such as sealing-wax, sulphur, glass, or tobacco.
13. n. A slender panic-grass, Panicum dichotomum, a valuable native forage for sheep in the southern United States.

Wiktionary

1. n. uncountable The slender, flexible main stem of a plant such as bamboo, including many species in the Grass family Gramineae.
2. n. uncountable The plant itself, including many species in the Grass family Gramineae; a reed.
3. n. uncountable sugar cane. (US, Southern) Sometimes applied to maize or rarely to sorghum when such plants are processed to make molasses (treacle) or sugar.
4. n. countable A short rod or stick, traditionally of wood or bamboo, used for corporal punishment.
5. n. countable, glassblowing A length of colored and/or patterned glass rod, used in the specific glassblowing technique called caneworking.
6. n. uncountable Corporal punishment by beating with a cane; the cane.
7. n. countable A strong short staff used for support or decoration during walking; a walking stick.
8. n. countable A long rod often collapsible and commonly white (for visibility to other persons), used by blind persons for guidance in determining their course and for probing for obstacles in their path.
9. v. To strike or beat with a cane or similar implement.
10. v. UK, New Zealand, slang To destroy.
11. v. UK, New Zealand, slang To do something well, in a competent fashion.
12. v. UK It hurts.
13. v. transitive To make or furnish with cane or rattan.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A name given to several peculiar palms, species of Calamus and Dæmanorops, having very long, smooth flexible stems, commonly called rattans.
2. n. Any plant with long, hard, elastic stems, as reeds and bamboos of many kinds; also, the sugar cane.
3. n. Stems of other plants are sometimes called canes.
4. n. A walking stick; a staff; -- so called because originally made of one of the species of cane.
5. n. rare A lance or dart made of cane.
6. n. A local European measure of length. See Canna.
7. v. To beat with a cane.
8. v. To make or furnish with cane or rattan.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. beat with a cane
2. n. a stiff switch used to hit students as punishment
3. n. a stick that people can lean on to help them walk
4. n. a strong slender often flexible stem as of bamboos, reeds, rattans, or sugar cane