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Canvas - 7 dictionary results

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can⋅vas

[kan-vuh

–noun

1.	a closely woven, heavy cloth of cotton, hemp, or linen, used for tents, sails, etc.

2.	a piece of this or similar material on which a painting is made.

3.	a painting on canvas.

4.	a tent, or tents collectively.

5.	sailcloth.

6.	sails collectively.

7.	any fabric of linen, cotton, or hemp of a coarse loose weave used as a foundation for embroidery stitches, interlining, etc.

8.	the floor of a boxing ring traditionally consisting of a canvas covering stretched over a mat.

—Idiom

under canvas,

a.	Nautical. with set sails.

b.	in tents; in the field: the troops under canvas.

Origin:
1225–75; ME canevas < AF, ONF < VL *cannabāceus (n. use of adj.), equiv. to L cannab(is) hemp + -āceus -aceous

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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Language Translation for : Canvas

Spanish:

lona,

German:

das Segeltuch,

Japanese:

帆布

View 29 other languages »

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can·vas (kān'vəs) Pronunciation Key
n.

A heavy, coarse, closely woven fabric of cotton, hemp, or flax, used for tents and sails.
1. A piece of such fabric on which a painting, especially an oil painting, is executed.
2. A painting executed on such fabric.
3. A tent or group of tents.
4. A circus tent.
A fabric of coarse open weave, used as a foundation for needlework.
The background against which events unfold, as in a historical narrative: a grim portrait of despair against the bright canvas of the postwar economy.
Nautical A sail or set of sails.
1. A tent or group of tents.
2. A circus tent.
Sports The floor of a ring in which boxing or wrestling takes place.

[Middle English canevas, from Old French and from Medieval Latin canavāsium, both ultimately from Latin cannabis, hemp; see cannabis.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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canvas

1260, from Anglo-Fr. canevaz, from O.Fr. canevas, from V.L. *cannapaceus "made of hemp," from L. cannabis, from Gk. kannabis "hemp," a Scythian or Thracian word. Canvas-back as a type of N.Amer. duck is from 1785.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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canvas
noun
1.	a heavy, closely woven fabric (used for clothing or chairs or sails or tents)
2.	an oil painting on canvas fabric
3.	the setting for a narrative or fictional or dramatic account; "the crowded canvas of history"; "the movie demanded a dramatic canvas of sound"
4.	a tent made of canvas fabric [syn: canvas tent]
5.	a large piece of fabric (usually canvas fabric) by means of which wind is used to propel a sailing vessel [syn: sail]
6.	the mat that forms the floor of the ring in which boxers or professional wrestlers compete; "the boxer picked himself up off the canvas"
verb
1.	solicit votes from potential voters in an electoral campaign [syn: canvass]
2.	get the opinions (of people) by asking specific questions [syn: poll]
3.	cover with canvas; "She canvassed the walls of her living room so as to conceal the ugly cracks"
4.	consider in detail and subject to an analysis in order to discover essential features or meaning; "analyze a sonnet by Shakespeare"; "analyze the evidence in a criminal trial"; "analyze your real motives" [syn: analyze]

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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Canvas, WV Zip code(s): 26662

U.S. Gazetteer, U.S. Census Bureau
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Canvas

Can"na*bis\, n. [L., hemp. See Canvas.] (Bot.) A genus of a single species belonging to the order Uricace[ae]; hemp.

Cannabis Indica, the Indian hemp, a powerful narcotic, now considered a variety of the common hemp.

Canvas

Can"vas\, n. [OE. canvas, canevas, F. canevas, LL. canabacius hempen cloth, canvas, L. cannabis hemp, fr. G. ?. See Hemp.]

1. A strong cloth made of hemp, flax, or cotton; -- used for tents, sails, etc.

By glimmering lanes and walls of canvas led. --Tennyson.

2. (a) A coarse cloth so woven as to form regular meshes for working with the needle, as in tapestry, or worsted work. (b) A piece of strong cloth of which the surface has been prepared to receive painting, commonly painting in oil.

History . . . does not bring out clearly upon the canvas the details which were familiar. --J. H. Newman.

3. Something for which canvas is used: (a) A sail, or a collection of sails. (b) A tent, or a collection of tents. (c) A painting, or a picture on canvas.

To suit his canvas to the roughness of the see. --Goldsmith.

Light, rich as that which glows on the canvas of Claude. --Macaulay.

4. A rough draft or model of a song, air, or other literary or musical composition; esp. one to show a poet the measure of the verses he is to make. --Grabb.