Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, 11th Edition
CANOPY
I. noun (plural -pies)
Etymology: Middle English canope, from Medieval Latin canopeum mosquito net, from Latin conopeum, from Greek kōnōpion, from kōnōps mosquito
Date: 14th century
1. a cloth covering suspended over a bed, a cover (as of cloth) fixed or carried above a person of high rank or a sacred object ; baldachin , a protective covering: as, the uppermost spreading branchy layer of a forest, awning , marquee , an ornamental rooflike structure,
3. the transparent enclosure over an airplane cockpit, the fabric part of a parachute that catches the air,
II. transitive verb (-pied; -pying)
Date: 1594
to cover with or as if with a canopy