canister
Americannoun
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a small box or jar, often one of a kitchen set, for holding tea, coffee, flour, and sugar.
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Also called canister shot. case shot.
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the part of a gas mask containing the neutralizing substances through which poisoned air is filtered.
noun
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a container, usually made of metal, in which dry food, such as tea or coffee, is stored
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a type of shrapnel shell for firing from a cannon
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Also called: canister shot. case shot. the shot or shrapnel packed inside this
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Etymology
Origin of canister
1670–80; < Latin canistrum wicker basket < Greek kánastron, derivative of kánna reed ( cane ), with -astron, variant of -tron suffix of instrument (probably from verbal derivatives, as stégastron covering, from stegázein to cover)
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.
In the confrontation that followed, one of the agents tossed a tear-gas canister, which an employee kicked under their vehicle, enveloping it with noxious fumes.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 20, 2026
Images released by Taiwan's Central News Agency show a canister on the ground at the Main Station, with officers examining potential evidence at the scene.
From Barron's • Dec. 19, 2025
He said Mr Shabir drove the three of them from Keighley to Bradford, stopping at a petrol station on the way where Mr Ali told him to fill a canister with petrol.
From BBC • Dec. 1, 2025
Exactly 55 years ago, Salazar was killed in an East Los Angeles bar by a tear gas canister launched by an L.A.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 29, 2025
Fortunately, Lopsang—who wasn’t using oxygen himself—was carrying a spare oxygen canister in his pack.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
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.
