Also 6– cannonier. [a. F. canonnier = It. cannoniere, Sp. cañonero, Pg. canhoneiro: see CANNON and -EER.]
An artilleryman who manages the laying and firing of a cannon; a gunner.
1562. Act 5 Eliz., v. § 12. Gunners, commonly called Canoneers
1590. Marlowe, 2nd Pt. Tamburl., III. iii. ad fin. To saue our Cannoniers from musket shot.
1591. Garrard, Art Warre, 303. The Cannoniers ought to be readie.
1674. Wallis, in Rigaud, Corr. Sci. Men (1841), II. 588. Practical cannoneers … find the random of a bullet very different from the parabola.
1795. in Nicolas, Disp. Nelson (1846), VII. Introd. 77. Ordnance stores for the siege, and cannoniers.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 244. The Irish cannoneers stood gallantly to their pieces till they were cut down to a man.
Hence Cannoneering vbl. sb., management of cannon; cannonading.
1756. Burke, Vind. Nat. Soc., Wks. I. 31. The present perfection of gunnery, cannoneering, bombarding, mining, and all these species of artificial … cruelty.
