canopy

From Middle English canapy, canepie, canapee, canape, canope, from Old French conopé, Medieval Latin canapeum, canopeum, from Latin cōnōpēum (“mosquito net, canopy”), from Ancient Greek κωνωπεῖον (kōnōpeîon, “mosquito net”), from Ancient Greek κώνωψ (kṓnōps, “mosquito”), of uncertain origin. More at Ancient Greek κώνωψ (kṓnōps). Doublet of canapé and conopeum.

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈkæ.nə.pi/

• Audio (US):

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canopy (plural canopies)

1. A high cover providing shelter, such as a cloth supported above an object, particularly over a bed.
   • 1847, John Dryden, The Works of John Dryden in Verse and Prose, volume 1, Harper, The Beginning of the Second Book of Lucretius:

     golden canopies and beds of state

   • 2019 October, “Consultation on University Station designs”, in Modern Railways, page 17:

     Platforms would be widened and covered by canopies with heated waiting areas for passengers.

2. Any overhanging or projecting roof structure, typically over entrances or doors.
3. The zone of the highest foliage and branches of a forest.
4. In an airplane, the transparent cockpit cover.
5. In a parachute, the cloth that fills with air and thus limits the falling speed.

• → French: canopée (calque)
• → Spanish: canopy

canopy (third-person singular simple present canopies, present participle canopying, simple past and past participle canopied)

1. (transitive) To cover with or as if with a canopy.
   • c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Away before me to sweet beds of flowers:
     Love-thoughts lie rich when canopied with bowers.

   • 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634:  [Comus], London: [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, , published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus:  (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC, lines 543-5:

     I sat me down to watch upon a bank
     With ivy canopied, and interwove
     With flaunting honeysuckle […]

   • 1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter 11, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. , volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC:

     I began also to observe, with greater accuracy, the forms that surrounded me, and to perceive the boundaries of the radiant roof of light which canopied me.

   • 1850, The Madras Journal of Literature and Science, Vol. XVI, No. 38, Vepery: J.P. Bantleman, p. 366,

     The walls of the vestibule and passage passing round the sanctuary, are covered with compartments holding high reliefs of Buddha seated on a lotus, the stem of which is grasped by two figures wearing wigs and tiaras, canopied by snakes;

2. (intransitive) To go through the canopy of a forest on a zipline.
   • 2013, Tara Morris, “Canopying In Rio Claro,” colombiareports.com, 11 March, 2013,

     If you’re looking for a little adventure in Colombia, look no further than canopying through Rio Claro’s lush, secluded jungle, located just five hours bus ride from either Medellin or Bogota.

• canopied
• canopy bed

• canopi

Unadapted borrowing from English canopy.

canopy m (uncountable)

1. (Caribbean, Chile) Synonym of tirolina (“zipline”)

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.