canister

[kan-uh-ster]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR canister ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a small box or jar, often one of a kitchen set, for holding tea, coffee, flour, and sugar.

Also called canister shot. case shot.

the part of a gas mask containing the neutralizing substances through which poisoned air is filtered.

Origin of canister

1670–80; < Latin canistrum wicker basket < Greek kánastron, derivative of kánna reed (see cane), with -astron, variant of -tron suffix of instrument (probably from verbal derivatives, as stégastron covering, from stegázein to cover)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for canister

jug, cup, bucket, urn, kettle, bowl, jar, mug, can, vessel, basin, pan, saucepan, pot, container, pail, cask, bottle, package, crate

Examples from the Web for canister

Contemporary Examples of canister

On another, Garrison said he handed a doctor a bottle of wine in a canister packed with $100 bills.
Patients Screwed in Spine Surgery ‘Scam’
The Center for Investigative Reporting
November 3, 2014
The smell of tear gas is as unique as the sound of its canister being deployed.
Aurora Survivors Tell of Their Brave Return to ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
Jacqueline Keavney Lader, Don Lader
August 3, 2012
I took film canisters and, essentially, rolled each breast around the canister, then fit them into the cup of the corset.
Linda Lovelace and ‘Deep Throat’s’ 40-Year Legacy
Tracy Quan
April 25, 2012
Having Lou Dobbs and Rick Kaplan reporting to me at the same time was like holding a canister of nitroglycerin in each hand.
What Happened to the Real Lou?
Lloyd Grove
August 5, 2009

Historical Examples of canister

Then we had no quarters at all, being perfectly exposed to grape and canister.
Ned Myers
James Fenimore Cooper
The shells and the grape and the canister and the bullets are smashing through them.
The Rock of Chickamauga
Joseph A. Altsheler
Roll it thin, cut it into little cakes with a wine glass, or the top of a canister, and bake them fifteen minutes on tin plates.
The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches,
Mary Eaton
The storm of canister caused them to waver a little, but that was all.
Personal Recollections of a Cavalryman
J. H. (James Harvey) Kidd
This done, the grape and canister told with fearful execution.
The Expedition to Borneo of H.M.S. Dido
Henry Keppel

British Dictionary definitions for canister

canister

noun

a container, usually made of metal, in which dry food, such as tea or coffee, is stored

(formerly)

a type of shrapnel shell for firing from a cannon
Also called: canister shot, case shotthe shot or shrapnel packed inside this

Word Origin for canister

C17: from Latin canistrum basket woven from reeds, from Greek kanastron, from kanna reed, cane 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for canister

late 15c., "basket," from Latin canistrum "wicker basket" for bread, fruit, flowers, etc., from Greek kanystron "basket made from reed," from kanna (see cane (n.)). It came to mean "metal receptacle" (1711) through influence of can (n.). As short for canister shot, it is attested from 1801, so called for its casing.