Meanings
alternative obsolete juego de cannas
- historicaluncountableA Spanish and Latin American game in which participants on horseback attempt to hit one another with canes.
the juego de cañas was above all an aesthetic performance featuring elaborate meaneuvers on horseback and involving little actual violence
2012, Teofilo F. Ruiz, A King Travels: Festive Traditions in Late Medieval and Early Modern Spain, Princeton University Press, page 2131 more example
After our breakfaſt, the Indian ſhewed us a little ſport in the Market place, running races on horſe-back, and playing at Iuego de Canna’s^([sic]), which is to meet on horſeback, with broad Targets to defend their heads and ſhoulders while paſſing by they hurley Canes,or darts one at another, which thoſe Indians acted with great dexterity.
1648, Thomas Gage, The English-American his Travail by Sea and Land: Or, a New Survey of the West-India’s, London: R. Cotes, page 96
Origin
- Spanishjuego de cañas
- Englishjuego de cañas
Borrowed from Spanish juego de cañas (literally “game of canes”).
More words from Spanish
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Spanish juego de cañas
- juego de cañasTranslations
Cite this entry
juego de cañas. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/juego%20de%20ca%C3%B1as
“juego de cañas.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/juego%20de%20ca%C3%B1as. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “juego de cañas,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/juego%20de%20ca%C3%B1as.
Source: juego de cañas on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.