2. Anything resembling an anvil in shape or use. Specifically (Anat.), the incus. See Incus. [ 1913 Webster ]

To be on the anvil, to be in a state of discussion, formation, or preparation, as when a scheme or measure is forming, but not matured. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

By glimmering lanes and walls of canvas led. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (a) A coarse cloth so woven as to form regular meshes for working with the needle, as in tapestry, or worsted work. (b) A piece of strong cloth of which the surface has been prepared to receive painting, commonly painting in oil. [ 1913 Webster ]

History . . . does not bring out clearly upon the canvas the details which were familiar. J. H. Newman. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Something for which canvas is used: (a) A sail, or a collection of sails. (b) A tent, or a collection of tents. (c) A painting, or a picture on canvas. [ 1913 Webster ]

To suit his canvas to the roughness of the see. Goldsmith. [ 1913 Webster ]

Light, rich as that which glows on the canvas of Claude. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A rough draft or model of a song, air, or other literary or musical composition; esp. one to show a poet the measure of the verses he is to make. Grabb. [ 1913 Webster ]

I have made careful search on all hands, and canvassed the matter with all possible diligence. Woodward. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To examine by discussion; to debate. [ 1913 Webster ]

An opinion that we are likely soon to canvass. Sir W. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To go through, with personal solicitation or public addresses; as, to canvass a district for votes; to canvass a city for subscriptions. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Examination in the way of discussion or debate. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Search; exploration; solicitation; systematic effort to obtain votes, subscribers, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

No previous canvass was made for me. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Optics) Specifically, having such a combination of concave and convex sides as makes the focal axis the shortest line between them. See Illust. under Lens. [ 1913 Webster ]

He found the queen somewhat convalesced. J. Knox. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Of or pertaining to convalescence. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Physics) A process of transfer or transmission, as of heat or electricity, by means of currents in liquids or gases, resulting from changes of temperature and other causes. [ 1913 Webster ]

Liquids are generally heated by convection -- when heat is applied from below. Nichol. [ 1913 Webster ]

The ends of the fragment . . . will not yield to the convellent force. Todd & Bowman. [ 1913 Webster ]

With his wod his work is convenable. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

And they missed
Their wonted convenance, cheerly hid the loss. Emerson. [ 1913 Webster ]

In shortsighted men . . . the rays converge and convene in the eyes before they come at the bottom. Sir I. Newton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To come together, as in one body or for a public purpose; to meet; to assemble. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Parliament of Scotland now convened. Sir R. Baker. [ 1913 Webster ]

Faint, underneath, the household fowls convene. Thomson.

Syn. -- To meet; to assemble; to congregate; to collect; to unite. [ 1913 Webster ]

And now the almighty father of the gods
Convenes a council in the blest abodes. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To summon judicially to meet or appear. [ 1913 Webster ]

By the papal canon law, clerks . . . can not be convened before any but an ecclesiastical judge. Ayliffe. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who calls an assembly together or convenes a meeting; hence, the chairman of a committee or other organized body. [ Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Let's further think of this;
Weigh what convenience both of time and means
May fit us to our shape. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

With all brief and plain conveniency,
Let me have judgment. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Freedom from discomfort, difficulty, or trouble; commodiousness; ease; accommodation. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thus necessity invented stools,
Convenience next suggested elbow chairs. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

We are rather intent upon the end of God's glory than our own conveniency. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That which is convenient; that which promotes comfort or advantage; that which is suited to one's wants; an accommodation. [ 1913 Webster ]

A pair of spectacles and several other little conveniences. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A convenient or fit time; opportunity; as, to do something at one's convenience. [ 1913 Webster ]

Feed me with food convenient for me. Prov. xxx. 8. [ 1913 Webster ]

Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient. Eph. v. 4. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Affording accommodation or advantage; well adapted to use; handly; as, a convenient house; convenient implements or tools. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Seasonable; timely; opportune; as, a convenient occasion; a convenient season. Acts xxiv. 25. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Near at hand; easy of access. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Hereties used to be brought thither, convenient for burning. Thackeray.

Syn. -- Fit; suitable; proper; adapted; fitted; suited; handly; commodious. [ 1913 Webster ]

A usual ceremony at their [ the witches ] convents or meetings. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An association or community of recluses devoted to a religious life; a body of monks or nuns. [ 1913 Webster ]

One of our convent, and his [ the duke's ] confessor. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A house occupied by a community of religious recluses; a monastery or nunnery. [ 1913 Webster ]

One seldom finds in Italy a spot of ground more agreeable than ordinary that is not covered with a convent. Addison.

Syn. -- Nunnery; monastery; abbey. See Cloister. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To be convenient; to serve. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

When that is known and golden time convents. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Conventical prior. See Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

They are commanded to abstain from all conventicles of men whatsoever. Ayliffe. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An assembly for religious worship; esp., such an assembly held privately, as in times of persecution, by Nonconformists or Dissenters in England, or by Covenanters in Scotland; -- often used opprobriously, as if those assembled were heretics or schismatics. [ 1913 Webster ]

The first Christians could never have had recourse to nocturnal or clandestine conventicles till driven to them by the violence of persecution. Hammond. [ 1913 Webster ]

A sort of men who . . . attend its [ the curch of England's ] service in the morning, and go with their wives to a conventicle in the afternoon. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

Conventicling schools . . . set up and taught secretly by fanatics. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

The conventions or associations of several particles of matter into bodies of any certain denomination. Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. General agreement or concurrence; arbitrary custom; usage; conventionality. [ 1913 Webster ]

There are thousands now
Such women, but convention beats them down. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A meeting or an assembly of persons, esp. of delegates or representatives, to accomplish some specific object, -- civil, social, political, or ecclesiastical. [ 1913 Webster ]

He set himself to the making of good laws in a grand convention of his nobles. Sir R. Baker. [ 1913 Webster ]

A convention of delegates from all the States, to meet in Philadelphia, for the sole and express purpose of reserving the federal system, and correcting its defects. W. Irving. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Eng. Hist) An extraordinary assembly of the parkiament or estates of the realm, held without the king's writ, -- as the assembly which restored Charles II. to the throne, and that which declared the throne to be abdicated by James II. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our gratitude is due . . . to the Long Parliament, to the Convention, and to William of Orange. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. An agreement or contract less formal than, or preliminary to, a treaty; an informal compact, as between commanders of armies in respect to suspension of hostilities, or between states; also, a formal agreement between governments or sovereign powers; as, a postal convention between two governments. [ 1913 Webster ]

This convention, I think from my soul, is nothing but a stipulation for national ignominy; a truce without a suspension of hostilities. Ld. Chatham. [ 1913 Webster ]

The convention with the State of Georgia has been ratified by their Legislature. T. Jefferson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Conventional services reserved by tenures upon grants, made out of the crown or knights' service. Sir M. Hale. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Growing out of, or depending on, custom or tacit agreement; sanctioned by general concurrence or usage; formal. “Conventional decorum.” Whewell. [ 1913 Webster ]

The conventional language appropriated to monarchs. Motley. [ 1913 Webster ]

The ordinary salutations, and other points of social behavior, are conventional. Latham. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Fine Arts) (a) Based upon tradition, whether religious and historical or of artistic rules. (b) Abstracted; removed from close representation of nature by the deliberate selection of what is to be represented and what is to be rejected; as, a conventional flower; a conventional shell. Cf. Conventionalize, v. t. [ 1913 Webster ]

All the artifice and conventionalism of life. Hawthorne. [ 1913 Webster ]

They gaze on all with dead, dim eyes, -- wrapped in conventionalisms, . . . simulating feelings according to a received standard. F. W. Robertson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Fine Arts) The principles or practice of conventionalizing. See Conventionalize, v. t. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who is governed by conventionalism. [ 1913 Webster ]