canvas Meaning, Definition & Usage

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

WordNet

Can"vas noun
Etymology
OE. canvas, canevas, F. canevas, LL. canabacius hempen cloth, canvas, L. cannabis hemp, fr. G. . See Hemp.
Definitions
  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.
Can"vas adjective
Definitions
  1. Made of, pertaining to, or resembling, canvas or coarse cloth; as, a canvas tent.

Webster 1913