Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Cancel \Can"cel\, n. [See {Cancel}, v. i., and cf. {Chancel}.]
   1. An inclosure; a boundary; a limit. [Obs.]

            A prison is but a retirement, and opportunity of
            serious thoughts, to a person whose spirit . . .
            desires no enlargement beyond the cancels of the
            body.                                 --Jer. Taylor.

   2. (Print)
      (a) The suppression or striking out of matter in type, or
          of a printed page or pages.
      (b) The part thus suppressed.

Cancel \Can"cel\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Canceled} or {Cancelled};
   p. pr. & vb. n. {Canceling} or {Cancelling}.] [L. cancellare
   to make like a lattice, to strike or cross out (cf. Fr.
   canceller, OF. canceler) fr. cancelli lattice, crossbars,
   dim. of cancer lattice; cf. Gr. ? latticed gate. Cf.
   {Chancel}.]
   1. To inclose or surround, as with a railing, or with
      latticework. [Obs.]

            A little obscure place canceled in with iron work is
            the pillar or stump at which . . . our Savior was
            scourged.                             --Evelyn.

   2. To shut out, as with a railing or with latticework; to
      exclude. [Obs.] ``Canceled from heaven.'' --Milton.

   3. To cross and deface, as the lines of a writing, or as a
      word or figure; to mark out by a cross line; to blot out
      or obliterate.

            A deed may be avoided by delivering it up to be
            cancelled; that is, to have lines drawn over it in
            the form of latticework or cancelli; though the
            phrase is now used figuratively for any manner of
            obliterating or defacing it.          --Blackstone.

   4. To annul or destroy; to revoke or recall.

            The indentures were canceled.         --Thackeray.

            He was unwilling to cancel the interest created
            through former secret services, by being refractory
            on this occasion.                     --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.

   5. (Print.) To suppress or omit; to strike out, as matter in
      type.

   {Canceled figures} (Print), figures cast with a line across
      the face., as for use in arithmetics.

   Syn: To blot out; obliterate; deface; erase; efface; expunge;
        annul; abolish; revoke; abrogate; repeal; destroy; do
        away; set aside. See {Abolish}.

Source : WordNet®

cancel
     n : a notation cancelling a previous sharp or flat [syn: {natural}]
     [also: {cancelling}, {cancelled}]

cancel
     v 1: postpone indefinitely or annul something that was scheduled;
          "Call off the engagement"; "cancel the dinner party"
          [syn: {call off}]
     2: make up for; "His skills offset his opponent's superior
        strength" [syn: {offset}, {set off}]
     3: declare null and void; make ineffective; "Cancel the
        election results"; "strike down a law" [syn: {strike down}]
     4: remove or make invisible; "Please delete my name from your
        list" [syn: {delete}]
     5: of cheques or tickets [syn: {invalidate}]
     [also: {cancelling}, {cancelled}]

Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

Cancel
     
         (CAN, Control-X) {ASCII} character 24.
     
        (1996-06-28)