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In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens wrote the following:

We had not gone far when three cannon were fired ahead of us

I always thought the plural of cannon was cannons, as a rule. This usage of cannon as an uncountable noun befuddled me, so I took to the Internet. Many sources listed it as countable, but some sites like the ones here and here say that "cannon" is correct.

My questions:

  1. Have I been using this incorrectly my whole life, or
  2. Is this some kind of archaic form that died out? If so,
  3. How does usage of "cannon" over time compare to "cannons"?

So much confusion! Thanks for helping.

etymologynerd.com
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    "Cannon" is still the most common plural of "cannon". Note that it is not an uncountable noun in your example, it just has an irregular plural. However, "cannons" is also widely used and has been for centuries. My impression is that when we are talking about large scale military operations we are far more likely to use "cannon", when we are talking about one or two individual weapons, especially specific ones people often say "cannons". However, that last bit is just my impression. – Araucaria - Him Apr 10 '17 at 15:08

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