canasta
Americannoun
noun
-
a card game for two to six players who seek to amass points by declaring sets of cards
-
Also called: meld. a declared set in this game, containing seven or more like cards, worth 500 points if the canasta is pure or 300 if wild (containing up to three jokers)
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of canasta
1945–50; < Spanish: literally, basket, apparently variant of canastro < Greek kánastron wicker basket ( see canister)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Coates had those steely blue eyes, and after the canasta comeback, he threw the cards out the window. He was kind of an out-of-control guy.”
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 20, 2022
A classic Mexican street treat, tacos de canasta are traditionally layered in a big basket and sold from vendors on bikes.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 23, 2019
A lot of people seem interested in whatever he’s doing, whether it’s football, baseball, canasta or pick-up sticks.
From New York Times ● May 10, 2018
Or might she give up the game entirely and spent the rest of her sentence playing canasta with the Golden Girls?
From The Guardian ● Jun. 10, 2015
It turns out that the whole canasta group are wives of supporters of the plot.
From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
