canvasn.[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 coarse cloth so woven as to form regular meshes for working with the needle, as in tapestry, or worsted work.()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.)a. Made of, pertaining to, or resembling, canvas or coarse cloth; as, a canvas tent.()