Also cannon, canon, CANYON. [a. Sp. cañon tube, pipe, conduit, barrel, cannon, etc. (augm. of caña:—L. canna reed, pipe, quill, CANE; thus the same word as It. cannone, Pg. canhão, Pr. and F. canon, Eng. cannon, and canion), but spec. applied by the Spaniards of New Mexico in the sense in which it has been adopted from them by their English-speaking neighbors. In order to retain the pronunciation and prevent confusion with canon, which would result from the frequent want of the Spanish letter ñ, ñ (enye), in English typography, the word is frequently spelt CANYON, q.v.]
A deep gorge or ravine at the bottom of which a river or stream flows between high and often vertical sides; a physical feature characteristic of the Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevada, and the western plateaus of North America.
1850. B. Taylor, Eldorado, II. iv. 41. The word cañon (meaning, in Spanish, a funnel,) has a peculiar adaptation to these cleft channels through which the rivers are poured.
1863. Lett. fr. Vancouver’s Isl., in Daily Tel., 17 Nov., 7/2. Here the river rolls a mighty torrent through what is called a cannon (pronounced kanyon), a vast gorge formed by perpendicular rocks.
1874. Coues, Birds N.-W., 228. Deep, rocky cañons, where the dense foliage and precipitous walls shut out the sun, and a perpetual twilight prevails.
1882. Geikie, Geol., III. II. ii. § 3. 379. The Grand Cañon of the Colorado river is 300 miles long, and in some places more than 6000 feet in depth.
attrib. 1879. Beerbohm, Patagonia, v. 65. The tracks suddenly turned and went up the cañon-side on to the plain.
