Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Canvas
Can′vas
,Noun.
[OE.
canvas
, canevas
, F. canevas
, LL. canabacius
hempen cloth, canvas, L. cannabis
hemp, fr. G. [GREEK]. 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.
Can′vas
,Adj.
Made of, pertaining to, or resembling, canvas or coarse cloth;
as, a
. canvas
tentWebster 1828 Edition
Canvas
CANVAS
,Noun.
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.Definition 2024
canvas
canvas
English
Noun
canvas (plural canvasses or canvases) (see usage notes)
- A type of coarse cloth, woven from hemp, useful for making sails and tents or as a surface for paintings.
- 1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, Volume 4, p. 556.
- The term canvas is very widely used, as well to denote the coarse fabrics employed for kitchen use, as for strainers, and wraps for meat, as for the best quality of ordinary table and shirting linen. \
- 1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, Volume 4, p. 556.
- A piece of canvas cloth stretched across a frame on which one may paint.
- A basis for creative work.
- The author takes rural midwestern life as a canvas for a series of tightly woven character studies.
- (computer graphics) A region on which graphics can be rendered.
- (nautical) sails in general
- A tent.
- He spent the night under canvas.
- A painting, or a picture on canvas.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Goldsmith to this entry?)
- Macaulay
- Light, rich as that which glows on the canvas of Claude.
- A rough draft or model of a song, air, or other literary or musical composition; especially one to show a poet the measure of the verses he is to make.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Grabb to this entry?)
- Alternative spelling of canvass
Usage notes
The plural canvases is used primarily in the US, while the plural canvasses is used in the UK and most UK-influenced areas.
Translations
a type of coarse cloth
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a piece of canvas cloth on which one may paint
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Verb
canvas (third-person singular simple present canvases, present participle canvasing, simple past and past participle canvased)
- To cover an area or object with canvas.
- Alternative spelling of canvass