Library / English Dictionary

CANVAS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A heavy, closely woven fabric (used for clothing or chairs or sails or tents)

Synonyms:

canvas; canvass

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("canvas" is a kind of...):

cloth; fabric; material; textile (artifact made by weaving or felting or knitting or crocheting natural or synthetic fibers)

Meronyms (substance of "canvas"):

hemp (a plant fiber)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "canvas"):

tarp; tarpaulin (waterproofed canvas)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The mat that forms the floor of the ring in which boxers or professional wrestlers compete

Example:

the boxer picked himself up off the canvas

Synonyms:

canvas; canvass

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("canvas" is a kind of...):

gym mat; mat (sports equipment consisting of a piece of thick padding on the floor for gymnastic sports)

Holonyms ("canvas" is a part of...):

ring (a platform usually marked off by ropes in which contestants box or wrestle)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An oil painting on canvas fabric

Synonyms:

canvas; canvass

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("canvas" is a kind of...):

oil painting (a picture painted with oil paints)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A tent made of canvas fabric

Synonyms:

canvas; canvas tent; canvass

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("canvas" is a kind of...):

collapsible shelter; tent (a portable shelter (usually of canvas stretched over supporting poles and fastened to the ground with ropes and pegs))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "canvas"):

big top; circus tent; round top; top (a canvas tent to house the audience at a circus performance)

field tent (a canvas tent for use in the field)

Sibley tent (a light conical canvas tent erected on a tripod with ventilation at the top)

wall tent (a canvas tent with four vertical walls)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A large piece of fabric (usually canvas fabric) by means of which wind is used to propel a sailing vessel

Synonyms:

canvas; canvass; sail; sheet

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("canvas" is a kind of...):

piece of cloth; piece of material (a separate part consisting of fabric)

Meronyms (parts of "canvas"):

reef (one of several strips across a sail that can be taken in or rolled up to lessen the area of the sail that is exposed to the wind)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "canvas"):

topsail (a sail (or either of a pair of sails) immediately above the lowermost sail of a mast and supported by a topmast)

topgallant; topgallant sail (a sail set on a yard of a topgallant mast)

square sail (a four-sided sail set beneath a horizontal yard suspended at the middle from a mast)

skysail (the sail above the royal on a square-rigger)

save-all (a sail set to catch wind spilled from a larger sail)

royal (a sail set next above the topgallant on a royal mast)

press of canvas; press of sail (the greatest amount of sail that a ship can carry safely)

main-topsail (a topsail set on the mainmast)

mainsail (the lowermost sail on the mainmast)

headsail (any sail set forward of the foremast of a vessel)

foresail (the lowest sail on the foremast of a square-rigged vessel)

fore-and-aft sail (any sail not set on a yard and whose normal position is in a fore-and-aft direction)

crossjack; mizzen course (the lowermost sail on a mizzenmast)

balloon sail (any light loose sail)

Holonyms ("canvas" is a part of...):

sailing ship; sailing vessel (a vessel that is powered by the wind; often having several masts)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The setting for a narrative or fictional or dramatic account

Example:

the movie demanded a dramatic canvas of sound

Synonyms:

canvas; canvass

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("canvas" is a kind of...):

background; scope; setting (the state of the environment in which a situation exists)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cover with canvas

Example:

She canvassed the walls of her living room so as to conceal the ugly cracks

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "canvas" is one way to...):

cover (provide with a covering or cause to be covered)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

His comrade was a large, red-headed man upon a great black horse, with a huge canvas bag slung from his saddle-bow, which jingled and clinked with every movement of his steed.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You may now want to draw up new goals—and paint them boldly on a much broader canvas.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

"It's that naughty boy. I told him to go to sleep alone, and here he is, downstairs, getting his death a-cold pattering over that canvas," said Meg, answering the call.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a black canvas bag in his hand.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We sprang to our feet with a gasp of astonishment as Challenger, in a round, boyish straw-hat with a colored ribbon—Challenger, with his hands in his jacket-pockets and his canvas shoes daintily pointing as he walked—appeared in the open space before us.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Every idea that had been brought forward by the housekeeper was favourable to his character, and as she stood before the canvas on which he was represented, and fixed his eyes upon herself, she thought of his regard with a deeper sentiment of gratitude than it had ever raised before; she remembered its warmth, and softened its impropriety of expression.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The drooping canvas was not stirred, and yet my face had felt the air and been cooled.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Immediately all the beauty flashed back into the canvas.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

On the snow there are pieces of blanket and of canvas, and I know what has happened.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

To and fro, up and down, north, south, east, and west, the HISPANIOLA sailed by swoops and dashes, and at each repetition ended as she had begun, with idly flapping canvas.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)