canteen
[kan-teen]
- a small container used especially by soldiers and hikers for carrying water or other liquids.
- a general store and cafeteria at a military base.
- a place where free entertainment is provided for military personnel.
- a place, as in a factory, school, or summer camp, where refreshments and sometimes personal supplies are sold.
- a recreation center or social club, especially for teenagers.
- a place set up to dispense food during an emergency.
- a snack bar.
- British. a box or chest for cutlery and other table utensils.
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Origin of canteen
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for canteen
Contemporary Examples
“The profit from the canteen goes directly back into the facility,” says Van Wickler.
She spent 12-hour days at the Red Cross canteen, doing whatever was needed.
“Being popular online is like sitting at the cool table in the canteen…In a mental hospital,” he wrote.
Historical Examples
This revived him, and he offered us his canteen, in which was some excellent Jamaica.
Ned MyersJames Fenimore Cooper
Set at liberty for the time being, we recruits made for the canteen.
Adventures and RecollectionsBill o'th' Hoylus End
Ashton had half drained the canteen on the way up the mountain.
Out of the DepthsRobert Ames Bennet
When they were ready, she filled his canteen for him and took a sip 190 from it “for luck.”
Out of the DepthsRobert Ames Bennet
Blake dashed his face with the cupful of water still left in the canteen.
Out of the DepthsRobert Ames Bennet
canteen
- a restaurant attached to a factory, school, etc, providing meals for large numbers of people
- a small shop that provides a limited range of items, such as toilet requisites, to a military unit
- a recreation centre for military personnel
- a soldier's eating and drinking utensils
- a temporary or mobile stand at which food is provided
- a box in which a set of cutlery is laid out
- the cutlery itself
- a flask or canister for carrying water or other liquids, as used by soldiers or travellers
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Word Origin
C18: from French cantine, from Italian cantina wine cellar, from canto corner, from Latin canthus iron hoop encircling chariot wheel; see cant ²
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for canteen
n.
c.1710, "store in a military camp," from French cantine "sutler's shop" (17c.), from Italian cantina "wine cellar, vault," which is perhaps another of the many meanings that were attached to Latin canto "corner;" in this case, perhaps "corner for storage." A Gaulish origin also has been proposed. Extended to "refreshment room at a military base, school, etc." from 1870. Meaning "small tin for water or liquor, carried by soldiers on the march, campers, etc." is from 1744, from a sense in French.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper