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• canterbury
  canterbury

  noun

  a stand having sections for holding magazines, sheet music, or loose papers.
• Canterbury
  Canterbury

  noun

  a city in E Kent, in SE England: cathedral; early ecclesiastical center of England.

canterbury

¹ American  

[kan-ter-ber-ee, -buh-ree] / ˈkæn tərˌbɛr i, -bə ri /

noun

• canterburies
  plural

1. a stand having sections for holding magazines, sheet music, or loose papers.

2. a supper tray with partitions for cutlery and plates.

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Canterbury ² American  

[kan-ter-ber-ee, -buh-ree, -bree] / ˈkæn tərˌbɛr i, -bə ri, -bri /

noun

1. a city in E Kent, in SE England: cathedral; early ecclesiastical center of England.

2. a municipality in E New South Wales, in SE Australia: a part of Sydney.

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Canterbury ¹ British  

/ ˈkæntəbərɪ, -brɪ /

noun

1. Latin name: Durovernum. a city in SE England, in E Kent: starting point for St Augustine's mission to England (597 _ad ); cathedral where St Thomas à Becket was martyred (1170); seat of the archbishop and primate of England; seat of the University of Kent (1965). Pop: 43 552 (2001)

2. a regional council area of New Zealand, on E central South Island on Canterbury Bight : mountainous with coastal lowlands; agricultural. Chief town: Christchurch. Pop: 520 500 (2004 est). Area: 43 371 sq km (16 742 sq miles)

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canterbury ² British  

/ ˈkæntəbərɪ, -brɪ /

noun

1. a late 18th-century low wooden stand with partitions for holding cutlery and plates: often mounted on casters

2. a similar 19th-century stand used for holding sheet music, music books, or magazines

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Canterburian
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• canterburies
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of canterbury

1840–50; after Canterbury, England

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

canterbury Canterbury

“This year, the flowers that are blooming include canterbury and school bells, arroyo lupine, and California poppy,” the parks department said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2023

Yet his finest work was full of ironical laughter; a "canterbury tale," in medieval slang, was a lie.

From Time Magazine Archive

Edging of pinks and Shasta daisies, pink canterbury bells and Festiva Maxima peony.

From Trees, Fruits and Flowers of Minnesota, 1916 Embracing the Transactions of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society,Volume 44, from December 1, 1915, to December 1, 1916, Including the Twelve Numbers of "The Minnesota Horticulturist" for 1916 by A. W. Latham

Mr. Hawkins: We have three plants, hollyhocks, digitalis and canterbury bells, and nearly all have the same trouble with them.

From Trees, Fruits and Flowers of Minnesota, 1916 Embracing the Transactions of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society,Volume 44, from December 1, 1915, to December 1, 1916, Including the Twelve Numbers of "The Minnesota Horticulturist" for 1916 by A. W. Latham

And the girls decorated the tables with flowers—blue larkspur and white canterbury bells.

From The Wouldbegoods by E. (Edith) Nesbit

Marlowe and William Shakespeare were born some two months apart in early 1564, the former in Canterbury, a gateway city to London and Europe, and the latter in the market town of Stratford-upon-Avon.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026

Probably designed and made soon after 1066 at Canterbury, it is not a true tapestry, but an embroidered narrative, and the oldest and most complete one we have.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026

Wingham Wildlife Park near Canterbury has taken some of the wild population to breed and release into the wild.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

More than 20 young people, mostly students, were infected in the March outbreak, linked to a Canterbury nightclub.

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026

The eldest of seven sons of a yeoman farmer, William was educated at King’s School, Canterbury, and Caius College in Cambridge, where he obtained his BA in 1597 and probably began to study medicine.

From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin

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