canvas

Meaning

1. A type of coarse cloth, woven from hemp, useful for making sails and tents or as a surface for paintings.
2. A piece of canvas cloth stretched across a frame on which one may paint.
3. A painting, or a picture on canvas.
4. A mesh of loosely woven cotton strands or molded plastic to be decorated with needlepoint, cross-stitch, rug hooking, or other crafts.
5. A basis for creative work.
6. A region on which graphics can be rendered.
7. Sails in general.
8. A tent.
9. 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.
10. Athletic shoes.

canvass

sail

canvas tent

sail cloth

ravel out

soft goods

negociate

puzzle over

hemp cloth

coarse cloth

sail-cloth

tent fly

colorway

denim or other stiff

densely woven cloth

Frequency

Hyphenated as

can‧vas

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈkænvəs/

From Middle English canevas, from Anglo-Norman, from Old Northern French canevas (compare Old French chanevas, chenevas) from a root derived from Latin cannabis, from Ancient Greek κάνναβις (kánnabis). Compare French canevas, resulting from a blend of the Old French and a Picard dialect word, itself from Old Northern French. Doublet of cannabis and hemp.