canvass
[kan-vuhs]
- to solicit votes, subscriptions, opinions, or the like from.
- to examine carefully; investigate by inquiry; discuss; debate.
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- to solicit votes, opinions, or the like.
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- a soliciting of votes, orders, or the like.
- a campaign for election to government office.
- close inspection; scrutiny.
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Origin of canvass
1500–10; orig. spelling variant of canvas, as a v.; sense “discuss” apparently development of the earlier senses “toss in a canvas sheet,” “harshly criticize”; sense “solicit votes” obscurely derived
Synonyms
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
scrutinize, inspect, agitate, solicit, consult, ventilate, run, campaign, scan, study, investigate, debate, examine, survey, argue, review, sift, apply, analyze, checkExamples from the Web for canvassed
Contemporary Examples
Images have been provided to Interpol, and ports, airports and train stations have all been canvassed with images of the girl.
You canvassed a lot of great filmmakers in Seduced and Abandoned, including Roman Polanski.
Alec Baldwin Uncensored: On His HBO Doc, Bloomberg, Polanski, and The New York TimesMarlow Stern
October 22, 2013
It was the view of far too many of those we canvassed that excluding him would be, as one professor put it, “very silly indeed.”
Delezen canvassed for Obama in 2008 and went to his inauguration.
Historical Examples
Enid Glenwilliam canvassed them all at least as freely as her neighbors.
The Coryston FamilyMrs. Humphry Ward
"I canvassed the entire House personally that other time," he said.
Mark Twain, A Biography, 1835-1910, CompleteAlbert Bigelow Paine
It also contends that "the transactions of the Board ought not to be canvassed in the newspapers."
Great AstronomersR. S. Ball
She had canvassed fifty-four counties and sold 20,000 tracts.
Susan B. AnthonyAlma Lutz
The motives of the lawgivers were canvassed without reserve.
canvass
- to solicit votes, orders, advertising, etc, from
- to determine the feelings and opinions of (voters before an election, etc), esp by conducting a survey
- to investigate (something) thoroughly, esp by discussion or debate
- mainly US to inspect (votes) officially to determine their validity
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- a solicitation of opinions, votes, sales orders, etc
- close inspection; scrutiny
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Word Origin
C16: probably from obsolete sense of canvas (to toss someone in a canvas sheet, hence, to harass, criticize); the development of current senses is unexplained
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 canvassed
canvass
v.
c.1500, from alternative spelling of canvas (n.) and probably meaning, originally, "to toss or sift in a canvas sheet," hence "to shake out, examine carefully" (1520s); "to solicit votes" (1550s). The spelling with a double -s- dates from 16c. Cf. Old French canabasser "to examine carefully," literally "to sift through canvas." Related: Canvassed; canvassing. As a noun related to this, attested from c.1600.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper