Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To examine carefully or discuss thoroughly; scrutinize: "The evidence had been repeatedly canvassed in American courts” ( Anthony Lewis).
- v. To go through (a region) or go to (persons) to solicit votes or orders.
- v. To conduct a survey of (public opinion); poll.
- v. To make a thorough examination or conduct a detailed discussion.
- v. To solicit voters, orders, or opinions.
- n. An examination or discussion.
- n. A solicitation of votes or orders.
- n. A survey of public opinion.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To examine; scrutinize.
- Specifically.
- To sift or examine by way of discussion; discuss; debate.
- To sift or investigate by inquiry; examine as to opinions, desires, or intentions; apply to or address for the purpose of influencing action, or of ascertaining a probable result: as, to canvass the people of a city with reference to an approaching election, for the promotion of a public undertaking, or the like.
- To traverse for the purpose of inquiry or solicitation; apply to or address the inhabitants of with reference to prospective action: as, to canvass a district for votes, for subscriptions, etc.
- To shake; take to task. See canvas, transitive verb, 2.
- To solicit or go about soliciting votes, interest, orders, subscriptions, or the like: followed by for: as, to canvass for an office or preferment; to canvass for a friend; to canvass for a mercantile firm.
- n. Examination; close inspection; scrutiny: as, a canvass of votes. Specifically
- n. An examination or scrutiny of a body of men, in order to ascertain their opinions or their intentions, especially whether they will vote for or against a given measure or candidate; an estimate of the number of votes cast or to be cast for or against a candidate or bill: as, a canvass of the legislature disclosed a majority of six in favor of the measure.
- n. A seeking; solicitation; specifically, systematic solicitation for the votes and support of a district or of individuals by a candidate for office or by his friends.
- n. Discussion; debate.
Wiktionary
- n. A solicitation of voters or public opinion.
- v. To solicit voters or opinions.
- v. To conduct a survey.
- v. To campaign.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To sift; to strain; to examine thoroughly; to scrutinize.
- v. To examine by discussion; to debate.
- v. To go through, with personal solicitation or public addresses.
- v. To search thoroughly; to engage in solicitation by traversing a district; ; -- commonly followed by
for . - n. Close inspection; careful review for verification.
- n. Examination in the way of discussion or debate.
- n. Search; exploration; solicitation; systematic effort to obtain votes, subscribers, etc.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a heavy, closely woven fabric (used for clothing or chairs or sails or tents)
- n. the setting for a narrative or fictional or dramatic account
- v. get the opinions (of people) by asking specific questions
- n. a large piece of fabric (usually canvas fabric) by means of which wind is used to propel a sailing vessel
- n. an inquiry into public opinion conducted by interviewing a random sample of people
- v. consider in detail and subject to an analysis in order to discover essential features or meaning
- v. solicit votes from potential voters in an electoral campaign
- n. a tent made of canvas fabric
- n. an oil painting on canvas fabric
- n. the mat that forms the floor of the ring in which boxers or professional wrestlers compete
Etymologies
- From canvas, originally meaning "to toss in a canvas sheet". First attested 1508 (Wiktionary)
- From obsolete canvass, to toss in a canvas sheet as punishment, from canvas. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
““Allow me to present Skeletor,” with a grand flourish, he pulled a canvass from the large cloaked object dominating the small lab.”
365 tomorrows » featured writer : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day
“The blue canvass is one that I won in a photography competition.”
“How she compresses the grandeur and majesty of her subjects onto the canvass is only outdone by the breathtaking awe the viewer is participant to when standing before an original Fanucci.”
Lightning on the Canvass « California Life: Better Than Happy Hour
“Sounds like five '2's and three' 3's, in canvass rating terms.”
“Then they proceeded to what they called the canvass of the votes in the Legislature, not canvassing legal returns of voters in any legal form, but a canvass on the ground of newspaper reports, wild guesses, and forged affidavits.”
“She claimed that the canvass was a "open and transparent" process, yet she found the error at noon on Wednesday and sat on the information for 29 hours, not even telling top election officials at the Government Accountability Board.”
“The canvass is a legal process in which local officials literally reconstruct the results of the election one voting machine and one precinct at a time, to ensure that all votes validly cast in the election are counted fairly and accurately.”
The Washington Post: Fairfax GOP head questions vote totals in Connolly-Fimian race
“The canvass is a public process, and our observers have been monitoring it since the minute it began.”
The Washington Post: Fairfax GOP head questions vote totals in Connolly-Fimian race
“Last week I was bemoaning the fact I was sent to canvass, that is knock on the doors of an appointed list of people and try to get them to vote for Senator Obama.”
Paula B. Mays: Campaign Journal: Conversations with iVillage Barbie
““Lastly, see that your canvass is a fine show, brilliant, resplendent, and popular; and also, if it can be managed, that there should be scandalous talk about the crimes, lusts, and briberies of your competitors.””
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘canvass’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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LIT - Ulysses - key words and phrases
money cowrie, bedraggle, omphalos, ineluctable, postprandial, bladderwrack, modality barnacle..., loofah, shipworm, cither, embattle, Malachi and 503 more...
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EN - confusables
Similar words meaning different things
accept, except, adverse, averse, advice, advise, affect, effect, aisle, isle, all together, altogether and 134 more...
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election phrases and words
how election is used,everything
to do with elections,synonymsgeneral election, election petition, election of clerk, election-vote, election fever, election expenses, election district, election-monger, election-mad, election-dust, election-committee, election dinner and 151 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Words without the letter E
chord, slur, anabaptist, anabolic, diabolic, turbid, torpid, somniloquist, trump, bipolar, dioxin, hydrocarbon and 107 more...
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Jesse's random
bathos, dragoman, tessellated, escutcheon, eikon, mondaine, basilisk, ciborium, rubric, machicolation, jet, defalcation and 198 more...
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GRE Words
orotund, mendacious, inimical, foment, contumacious, abrogate, arrogate, syncretism, abate, abdication, aberration, abeyance and 123 more...
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kalidas's Words
crepuscular, mellifluous, ephemeral, diaphanous, zeitgeist, geisterfahrer, infinite, eternal, idyllic, azure, reminiscent, oblivion and 521 more...
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inkhorn's Words
inkhorn, aplomb, apotheosis, asinine, avatar, bombastic, boorish, bromide, bucolic, cagey, canvass, digress and 991 more...
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Revised GRE Wordlist_2013
Vocabulary building for my quest of GRE 2013
ephemeral, esoteric, rhetoric, censure, egregious, pittance, dupe, mulct, paucity, alacrity, maintain, laconic and 997 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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CCW
Commonly Confused Words
wreath, wreathe, titillate, titivate, proscribe, prescribe, pedal, peddle, mettle, metal, palette, palate and 132 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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GRE Words
abacus, abate, abdicate, abdomen, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abide, abjure, abraded, abrasion, abrogate and 198 more...
Tweets
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