Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, 11th Edition
CANVAS
I. noun also canvass see: cannabis
Date: 13th century
a firm closely woven cloth usually of linen, hemp, or cotton used for clothing and formerly much used for tents and sails, a set of sails ; sail , a piece of canvas used for a particular purpose, tent ,
5. a piece of cloth backed or framed as a surface for a painting, the background, setting, or scope of a historical or fictional account or narrative, a coarse cloth so woven as to form regular meshes for working with the needle, the canvas-covered floor of a boxing or wrestling ring, canvaslike adjective
II. transitive verb (-vased or -vassed; -vasing or -vassing)
Date: 1556
to cover, line, or furnish with canvas