Canvas

a dense, heavy, plain-woven cloth of unbleached hemp or flax. Canvas may be of many weights and qualities. It is used for a variety of purposes for which strength and durability are required. The heavier grades are used for tents, and for the sails of ships. Ships with all sails spread are said to be under heavy canvas. The smoothest varieties are used as a ground for embroidery and, stretched on frames, for oil paintings. Artists sometimes speak of paintings as canvases. Many grades are used by tailors and dressmakers to stiffen certain parts of garments. The canvasback duck is so called because the back, when plucked, has the appearance of a piece of white, finely ridged and reticulated canvas. From the use of canvas as a sifting or bolting cloth in mills, we acquire the expression to canvass, meaning to sift or examine with care. See Bayeux Tapestry