A tall sedgy plant with a hollow stem, growing in moist places. In Isaiah 43:24; Jeremiah 6:20, the Hebrew word kaneh is thus rendered, giving its name to the plant. It is rendered "reed" in 1 Kings 14:15; Job 40:21; Isaiah 19:6; 35:7. In Psalm 68:30 the expression "company of spearmen" is in the margin and the Revised Version "beasts of the reeds," referring probably to the crocodile or the hippopotamus as a symbol of Egypt. In 2 Kings 18:21; Isaiah 36:6; Ezek. 29:6, 7, the reference is to the weak, fragile nature of the reed. (see CALAMUS.)

Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (n.) A name given to several peculiar palms, species of Calamus and Daemanorops, having very long, smooth flexible stems, commonly called rattans.

2. (n.) Any plant with long, hard, elastic stems, as reeds and bamboos of many kinds; also, the sugar cane.

3. (n.) Stems of other plants are sometimes called canes; as, the canes of a raspberry.

4. (n.) A walking stick; a staff; -- so called because originally made of one the species of cane.

5. (n.) A lance or dart made of cane.

6. (n.) A local European measure of length. See Canna.

7. (v. t.) To beat with a cane.

8. (v. t.) To make or furnish with cane or rattan; as, to cane chairs.