canvassing

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
canvas/ˈkanvəs/

▶noun (pl. canvases or canvasses)

• 1 a strong, coarse unbleached cloth used to make sails, tents, etc. and as a surface for oil painting.

  ■ a piece of canvas prepared for use as the surface for an oil painting.

  ■ (the canvas) the floor of a boxing or wrestling ring, having a canvas covering.

• 2 either of a racing boat's tapering ends, originally covered with canvas.

▶verb (canvases, canvassing, canvassed; US canvases, canvasing, canvased) cover with canvas.

– phrases
under canvas

• 1 in a tent or tents.

• 2 with sails spread.

word history: The word canvas came into Middle English, via Old Northern French canevas, from the Latin name for hemp, cannabis: hemp is the raw material traditionally used in making canvas, and is also the source of cannabis itself. The noun canvas (earlier spelled with a double -s) is also linked with the verb canvass, which originally meant ‘toss in a canvas sheet’ (a practice carried out both in fun and as a punishment); canvass then came to mean ‘assault, attack’ or ‘criticize’, and later ‘scrutinize in order to reject invalid votes’, from which developed the modern sense, ‘solicit votes’.