Canvas

English Meaning

A strong cloth made of hemp, flax, or cotton; -- used for tents, sails, etc.

1. A heavy, coarse, closely woven fabric of cotton, hemp, or flax, used for tents and sails.
2. A piece of such fabric on which a painting, especially an oil painting, is executed.
3. A painting executed on such fabric.
4. A fabric of coarse open weave, used as a foundation for needlework.
5. The background against which events unfold, as in a historical narrative: a grim portrait of despair against the bright canvas of the postwar economy.
6. Nautical A sail or set of sails.
7. A tent or group of tents.
8. A circus tent.
9. Sports The floor of a ring in which boxing or wrestling takes place.
10. under canvas Nautical With sails spread.
11. under canvas In a tent or tents.