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A report that means one thing.
Also known as: Signal cannon, Gun signal, Minute gun
The firing of a gun as a prearranged signal at sea or on shore.
Signals distress, a time, a start or a death by firing a gun in a prearranged pattern.
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Timing carries the meaning because a gun's report cannot be varied: a gun fired at minute intervals means one thing and the same gun fired in quick succession another, so the channel encodes in the intervals rather than the signal.
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Survives in racing starts and in ceremonial use long after its signalling function passed to other means.
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A gun with a long cylinder of a barrel on a wheeled mounting, fired at set intervals or in counted groups, the timing rather than the sound carrying the meaning.