canal

[kuh-nal] /kəˈnæl/
noun
1.
an artificial waterway for navigation, irrigation, etc.
2.
a long narrow arm of the sea penetrating far inland.
3.
a tubular passage or cavity for food, air, etc., especially in an animal or plant; a duct.
4.
channel; watercourse.
5.
Astronomy. one of the long, narrow, dark lines on the surface of the planet Mars, as seen telescopically from the earth.
verb (used with object), canalled or canaled, canalling or canaling.
6.
to make a canal through.
Origin
1400-50; late Middle English: waterpipe, tubular passage < Latin canālis, perhaps equivalent to can(na) reed, pipe (see cane) + -ālis -al1; def. 5 a mistranslation of Italian canali channels, term used by G. V. Schiaparelli
British Dictionary definitions for canal

canal

/kəˈnæl/
noun
1.
an artificial waterway constructed for navigation, irrigation, water power, etc
2.
any of various tubular passages or ducts: the alimentary canal
3.
any of various elongated intercellular spaces in plants
4.
(astronomy) any of the indistinct surface features of Mars originally thought to be a network of channels but not seen on close-range photographs. They are caused by an optical illusion in which faint geological features appear to have a geometric structure
verb (transitive) -nals, -nalling, -nalled (US) -nals, -naling, -naled
5.
to dig a canal through
6.
to provide with a canal or canals
Word Origin
C15 (in the sense: pipe, tube): from Latin canālis channel, water pipe, from canna reed, cane1
Word Origin and History for canal
n.

early 15c., from French canal, chanel "water channel, tube, pipe, gutter" (12c.), from Latin canalis "water pipe, groove, channel," noun use of adjective from canna "reed" (see cane). Originally in English "a pipe for liquid," its sense transferred by 1670s to "artificial waterway."

canal in Medicine

canal ca·nal (kə-nāl')
n.
A duct, a channel, or a tubular structure.