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canvasback

American  
[kan-vuhs-bak] / ˈkæn vəsˌbæk /

noun

canvasbacks, plural canvasback plural
  1. a North American wild duck, Aythya valisineria, the male of which has a whitish back and a reddish-brown head and neck.


canvasback British  
/ ˈkænvəsˌbæk /

noun

  1. a North American diving duck, Aythyra valisineria, the male of which has a white body and reddish-brown head

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of canvasback

An Americanism dating back to 1595–1605; after the canvaslike color of its back

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Vocabulary lists containing canvasback

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.

See Examples For:

On the banks of Yosemite Creek, brown-headed canvasback ducks plunged and preened.

From Washington Post Jul. 1, 2021

In this way, evening by evening, I drew them nearer till at length in the dusk one evening a young canvasback snatched a piece of bread from my fingers.

From Time Magazine Archive

An early Portland matron startled the populace with a carriage robe made of the breast feathers of 144 canvasback ducks.

From Time Magazine Archive

At 6:23 a.m., a flight of canvasback ducks wheeled confidently in.

From Time Magazine Archive

Prairie-chickens have dark meat, and many epicures declare that they should be cooked quite as rare as canvasback ducks and that their flavor when so served is unsurpassed.

From The Century Cook Book by Ronald, Mary

Also spotted, but in fewer numbers, were snow geese, buffleheads, redheads, goldeneyes, American widgeon, ruddy, ring-necked, canvasbacks, scaup and wood ducks.

From Washington Times Feb. 15, 2015

Next day, from a New York Rod & Gun Club blind on Spesuti Island, he shot four black ducks and eight canvasbacks.

From Time Magazine Archive

From Susquehanna Flats to the Suisun marshes and from the Kankakee marshes to Pas a l'Outre all species of wild waterfowl had been scarce; canvasbacks, redheads, ruddy ducks, teals, gadwalls, widgeons, shovelers especially so.

From Time Magazine Archive

Mr. Chrysler explained that he regularly scattered grain over his marshes except during hunting season, said 500 canvasbacks had boarded there last winter.

From Time Magazine Archive

He had been born on the eastern shore of Maryland and was brought up on canvasbacks, soft-shell crabs and terrapin—not to mention clams and sheepshead.

From Peter: a novel of which he is not the hero by Smith, Francis Hopkinson

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