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💣 A metal ball 💦 To jump and splash
to cannonball

to cannonball

1 3.8
To jump into water with your knees pulled to your chest to make a big splash
  • verb
  • /ˈkænəˌbɔl/
  • Informal
translation icon : tirarse en bomba
  • He cannonballs down into the horde of spiders.

Examples

  • I mean, I haven't cannonballed into a pool, but it's still looking good.

  • Soon as it shows -It may come cannonballing -(GASPS)

    West Side Story (2021)

  • Well, I and first of all, cannonballed in, I'm wearing it.

  • And then with this car, Mercedes-Benz basically did a cannonball off the diving board.

  • Cannonballing into the pool for the sake of it would be the worst possible course of action for the Red Sox.

    Blog text (5)

  • - Like, remember how we went into Brenda and Jay's house and did a bunch of recordings of us cannonballing and stuff?

    He's Watching (2022)

  • I'm, like, flipping off balconies, I cannonballed onto a truck and landed like a cat.

    Code Name: The Cleaner (2007)

  • We cannonballed, dove, and did relay races, and then stood on the pool's steps to receive our medals, which we accepted as an honor for our nation with our hands placed over our hearts.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • I turned away to finish undressing, and when I looked back, Jimmy was cannonballing over the embankment with a daredevil whoosh of air.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • The kids cannonballed into the lake, splashing everyone nearby.

Synonyms

to do a cannonball
vsto cannonball
  • Informal
1 3.5

Jump into water while pulling your knees to your chest to make a big splash

has the same meaning but is a shorter single word form

Idioms

to do a cannonball
  • Informal
1 3.5

Jump into water while pulling your knees to your chest to make a big splash

Phrasal Verbs

to cannonball along
  • Informal
7.1

To move very quickly in a straight, forceful way

Compounds

perfect cannonball
3.5

A dive into water made by curling the body tightly to make a big splash

How Splashy

to cannonball
  • Informal
1 3.8
to jump
∞ 1.0
to dive
152 1.0
dip
49 1.0
to wade
22 2.2

Surface Forms

cannonball infinitive
cannonballed past
cannonballed past participle
cannonballing present participle
cannonballs third person singular

Morphology

cannonball = cannonball (semi-transparent) = cannon + ball

The verb is formed by conversion from the noun 'cannonball', and the jumping action is metaphorically linked to the shape of a cannonball, but the specific meaning is not fully predictable from the base alone.

Etymology

Cannonball as a verb comes from the noun cannonball. When you jump into water with your knees pulled in you look like a round cannonball and make a big splash, so to cannonball is to jump that way to splash the water.