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.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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