canal Definition

canal
noun

1. An artificial channel or waterway, usually constructed to allow shipping to pass between two adjacent bodies of water, but sometimes built to improve irrigation or drainage of a particular area of land.
2. anatomy.
Any tubular channel or passage that conveys air, fluids or semi-solid material from one part of the body to another, eg the alimentary canal.
3. astron.
Any of the indistinct channel-like markings apparent on the surface of Mars when viewed through a telescope.

Etymology: 17c in sense 1; 15c in obsolete sense ‘pipe, tube': from Latin canalis water pipe.