Adjacent Words

Canvas definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CANVAS, n.
1. A coarse cloth made of hemp, or flax, used for tents, sails of ships, painting and other purposes.
2. A clear unbleached cloth, wove regularly in little squares, used for working tapestry with the needle.
3. Among the French, the rough draught or model on which an air or piece of music is composed, and given to a poet to finish. The canvas of a song contains certain notes of the composer, to show the poet the measure of the verses he is to make.
4. Among seamen, cloth in sails, or sails in general; as, to spread as much canvas as the ship will bear.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a heavy, closely woven fabric (used for clothing or chairs or sails or tents) [syn: canvas, canvass]
2: an oil painting on canvas fabric [syn: canvas, canvass]
3: the setting for a narrative or fictional or dramatic account; "the crowded canvas of history"; "the movie demanded a dramatic canvas of sound" [syn: canvas, canvass]
4: a tent made of canvas fabric [syn: canvas tent, canvas, canvass]
5: a large piece of fabric (usually canvas fabric) by means of which wind is used to propel a sailing vessel [syn: sail, canvas, canvass, sheet]
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" [syn: canvas, canvass] v
1: solicit votes from potential voters in an electoral campaign [syn: canvass, canvas]
2: get the opinions (of people) by asking specific questions [syn: poll, canvass, canvas]
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, analyse, study, examine, canvass, canvas]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun also canvass Etymology: Middle English canevas, from Anglo-French canevas, chanevaz, from Vulgar Latin *cannabaceus hempen, from Latin cannabis hemp — more at cannabis Date: 13th century 1. a firm closely woven cloth usually of linen, hemp, or cotton used for clothing and formerly much used for tents and sails 2. a set of sails ; sail 3. a piece of canvas used for a particular purpose 4. tent; also a group of tents 5. a. a piece of cloth backed or framed as a surface for a painting; also the painting on such a surface b. the background, setting, or scope of a historical or fictional account or narrative 6. a coarse cloth so woven as to form regular meshes for working with the needle 7. the canvas-covered floor of a boxing or wrestling ring • canvaslike adjective II. transitive verb (-vased or -vassed; -vasing or -vassing) Date: 1556 to cover, line, or furnish with canvas

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a a strong coarse kind of cloth made from hemp or flax or other coarse yarn and used for sails and tents etc. and as a surface for oil-painting. b a piece of this. 2 a painting on canvas, esp. in oils. 3 an open kind of canvas used as a basis for tapestry and embroidery. 4 sl. the floor of a boxing or wrestling ring. 5 a racing-boat's covered end. --v.tr. (canvassed, canvassing; US canvased, canvasing) cover with canvas. Phrases and idioms: by a canvas (in boat-racing) by a small margin (win by a canvas). canvas-back a wild duck Aythya valisineria, of N. America, with back feathers the colour of unbleached canvas. under canvas 1 in a tent or tents. 2 with sails spread. Etymology: ME & ONF canevas, ult. f. L cannabis hemp

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Canvas Can"vas, a. Made of, pertaining to, or resembling, canvas or coarse cloth; as, a canvas tent.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(canvases) 1. Canvas is a strong, heavy cloth that is used for making things such as tents, sails, and bags. ...a canvas bag. 2. A canvas is a piece of canvas or similar material on which an oil painting can be done. N-VAR 3. A canvas is a painting that has been done on canvas. The show includes canvases by masters like Carpaccio, Canaletto and Guardi. = painting N-COUNT

Moby Thesaurus

agora, air brush, amphitheater, aquarelle, arena, art paper, athletic field, auditorium, background, bear garden, big top, boltrope, bowl, boxing ring, brush, bull ring, camera lucida, camera obscura, campus, chalk, charcoal, circus, clew, cloth, cockpit, coliseum, colosseum, course, crayon, cringle, crowd of sail, drawing paper, drawing pencil, drier, earing, easel, easel-picture, field, finger painting, fixative, floor, foot, fore-and-aft sail, forum, gouache, ground, gym, gymnasium, hall, head, hippodrome, lay figure, leech, lists, locale, luff, marketplace, mat, maulstick, medium, milieu, muslin, oil, oil painting, open forum, paint, paintbrush, painting, palaestra, palette, palette knife, parade ground, pastel, pencil, pigments, pit, place, plain sail, platform, precinct, press of sail, prize ring, public square, purlieu, rag, range, reduced sail, reef point, reefed sail, ring, round top, sail, scene, scene of action, scenery, scratchboard, setting, siccative, site, sketchbook, sketchpad, spatula, sphere, spray gun, square sail, squared circle, stadium, stage, stage set, stage setting, stump, tempera, tent, tentage, terrain, theater, tilting ground, tiltyard, top, varnish, walk, wash, wash drawing, water, whitetop, wrestling ring