The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Canvas \Can"vas\, a.
   Made of, pertaining to, or resembling, canvas or coarse
   cloth; as, a canvas tent.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Canvas \Can"vas\, n. [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.
      [1913 Webster]

            By glimmering lanes and walls of canvas led.
                                                  --Tennyson.
      [1913 Webster]

   2.
      (a) A coarse cloth so woven as to form regular meshes for
          working with the needle, as in tapestry, or worsted
          work.
      (b) A piece of strong cloth of which the surface has been
          prepared to receive painting, commonly painting in
          oil.
          [1913 Webster]

                History . . . does not bring out clearly upon
                the canvas the details which were familiar. --J.
                                                  H. Newman.
          [1913 Webster]

   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.
          [1913 Webster]

                To suit his canvas to the roughness of the see.
                                                  --Goldsmith.
          [1913 Webster]

                Light, rich as that which glows on the canvas of
                Claude.                           --Macaulay.
          [1913 Webster]

   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.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

canvas
    n 1: a heavy, closely woven fabric (used for clothing or chairs
         or sails or tents) [syn: canvas, canvass]
    2: an oil painting on canvas fabric [syn: canvas, canvass]
    3: the setting for a narrative or fictional or dramatic account;
       "the crowded canvas of history"; "the movie demanded a
       dramatic canvas of sound" [syn: canvas, canvass]
    4: a tent made of canvas fabric [syn: canvas tent, canvas,
       canvass]
    5: a large piece of fabric (usually canvas fabric) by means of
       which wind is used to propel a sailing vessel [syn: sail,
       canvas, canvass, sheet]
    6: the mat that forms the floor of the ring in which boxers or
       professional wrestlers compete; "the boxer picked himself up
       off the canvas" [syn: canvas, canvass]
    v 1: solicit votes from potential voters in an electoral
         campaign [syn: canvass, canvas]
    2: get the opinions (of people) by asking specific questions
       [syn: poll, canvass, canvas]
    3: cover with canvas; "She canvassed the walls of her living
       room so as to conceal the ugly cracks"
    4: consider in detail and subject to an analysis in order to
       discover essential features or meaning; "analyze a sonnet by
       Shakespeare"; "analyze the evidence in a criminal trial";
       "analyze your real motives" [syn: analyze, analyse,
       study, examine, canvass, canvas]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

126 Moby Thesaurus words for "canvas":
   agora, air brush, amphitheater, aquarelle, arena, art paper,
   athletic field, auditorium, background, bear garden, big top,
   boltrope, bowl, boxing ring, brush, bull ring, camera lucida,
   camera obscura, campus, chalk, charcoal, circus, clew, cloth,
   cockpit, coliseum, colosseum, course, crayon, cringle,
   crowd of sail, drawing paper, drawing pencil, drier, earing, easel,
   easel-picture, field, finger painting, fixative, floor, foot,
   fore-and-aft sail, forum, gouache, ground, gym, gymnasium, hall,
   head, hippodrome, lay figure, leech, lists, locale, luff,
   marketplace, mat, maulstick, medium, milieu, muslin, oil,
   oil painting, open forum, paint, paintbrush, painting, palaestra,
   palette, palette knife, parade ground, pastel, pencil, pigments,
   pit, place, plain sail, platform, precinct, press of sail,
   prize ring, public square, purlieu, rag, range, reduced sail,
   reef point, reefed sail, ring, round top, sail, scene,
   scene of action, scenery, scratchboard, setting, siccative, site,
   sketchbook, sketchpad, spatula, sphere, spray gun, square sail,
   squared circle, stadium, stage, stage set, stage setting, stump,
   tempera, tent, tentage, terrain, theater, tilting ground, tiltyard,
   top, varnish, walk, wash, wash drawing, water, whitetop,
   wrestling ring