CANVAS

Definitions

1. 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. 2. A coarse cloth so woven as to form regular meshes for working with the needle, as in tapestry, or worsted work.
3. 3. 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.
4. 4. 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.
5. 5. 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.