Canvas word meaning and definition

[noun] heavy closely woven fabric (used for clothing or chairs or sails or tents)
[noun] the mat that forms the floor of the ring in which boxers or professional wrestlers compete; "the boxer picked himself up off the canvas"
[noun] an oil painting on canvas
[noun] a tent made of canvas
[noun] a large piece of fabric (as canvas) by means of which wind is used to propel a sailing vessel
[noun] the setting for a narrative or fictional or dramatic account; "the crowded canvas of history"; "the movie demanded a dramatic canvas of sound"
[verb] get the opinions of people, for example
[verb] solicit votes from potential voters in an electoral campaign

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

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