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Canvass   Listen
verb
Canvass  v. t.  (past & past part. canvassed; pres. part. canvassing)  
1.
To sift; to strain; to examine thoroughly; to scrutinize; as, to canvass the votes cast at an election; to canvass a district with reference to its probable vote. "I have made careful search on all hands, and canvassed the matter with all possible diligence."
2.
To examine by discussion; to debate. "An opinion that we are likely soon to canvass."
3.
To go through, with personal solicitation or public addresses; as, to canvass a district for votes; to canvass a city for subscriptions.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Canvass" Quotes from Famous Books



... or two of the canvass, however, a careful estimate of our electoral strength showed it to be several hundred votes short of that of our opponents. Therefore, if we would win, we must make converts by appealing to the prejudices ...
— Doctor Therne • H. Rider Haggard

... and the pale horse, the firy dragon, the mystery of Babylon, and such like things, represented on canvass; but they betoken more of human talent to depict the marvellous, than a strict regard for truth. Beelzebub, imps, and all Pandemonium, may be vividly imagined and finely arranged in fiction, and we can name them. ...
— Lectures on Language - As Particularly Connected with English Grammar. • William S. Balch

... de Foligno—Description of the method employed by the French artists to transfer from pannel to canvass this celebrated ...
— Paris As It Was and As It Is • Francis W. Blagdon

... judiciously and tastefully carried out. The wants of the public, however, are so unequal, and their opinions so varied by the circumstances under which they are formed, that, unless an attractive beginning can be shown, very desirable property may remain a long time on the market. If we canvass real estate thoroughly, we shall find that property sells first, and at the best prices, which has ever so humble a cottage on it, a starting point in which one may temporarily reside, and lay out his plans of future operations; for the construction of a ...
— Woodward's Country Homes • George E. Woodward

... election, and if the House of Commons was packed with royal nominees.[710] But these assertions may be dismissed as gross exaggerations. The election of county members was marked by unmistakable signs of genuine popular liberty. There was often a riot, and sometimes a secret canvass among freeholders to promote or defeat a particular candidate.[711] In 1547 the council ventured to recommend a minister to the freeholders of Kent. The electors objected; the council reprimanded the sheriff for ...
— Henry VIII. • A. F. Pollard

... them, and those who have liberal friends not in their own vicinity may confer a favor by sending their names that a prospectus or specimen may be sent them. A liberal commission will be allowed to those who canvass for subscribers. ...
— Buchanan's Journal of Man, July 1887 - Volume 1, Number 6 • Various

... difficult of digestion, comprise all that is further to be said of the fashionable hotel of St. Anne de Chaves. After a good breakfast with our Hamburgh friend, we all embarked in the gig, and, spreading our canvass to the breeze, reached the ship in an ...
— Journal of an African Cruiser • Horatio Bridge

... were hanging on the walls, some stuck full of various coloured pins, denoting the condition of the canvass. Other maps of the city in colours, divided into all sorts of districts, told how fared the battle in the various strongholds of Boss ...
— The Ear in the Wall • Arthur B. Reeve

... engineers started a canvass of the big buildings in the theatrical district. After four or five had been searched without result they entered the ...
— Astounding Stories of Super-Science February 1930 • Various

... Malthus? I can't tell; I wish she had: his book's the eleventh commandment, Which says, "Thou shall not marry," unless well: This he (as far as I can understand) meant. 'T is not my purpose on his views to dwell, Nor canvass what "so eminent a hand" meant;[748] But, certes, it conducts to lives ascetic, Or turning Marriage ...
— The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 6 • Lord Byron

... galleries threading, May the artist's eye behold, Breathing from the "deathless canvass" Records of the ...
— Verses and Translations • C. S. C.

... manufacturers had contrived to bring back the age of worsted wonders, though, by a happy art, they saved the fair artists all the trouble of drawing and design. We are still under a Gothic invasion of trimmings and tapestry, of needlework nondescripts, moonlight minstrels in canvass, playing under cross-bar balconies; and all the signs of the zodiac brought down to the level of ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 62, No. 384, October 1847 • Various

... various cell doors with suspicion; opening any but an empty room would cause some comment from the occupant, which again would give me away. Nor did I have time to canvass the joint by peeking into the one-way bull's eyes, peering into a semi-gloom to see ...
— Highways in Hiding • George Oliver Smith

... thing," said Mary Louise, finally, "is whether the people will donate the goods they don't need or care for, but that can be easily determined by asking them. We ought to pair off, and each couple take a residence street and make a careful canvass, taking time to explain our plan. One day will show us whether we're to be successful or not, and the whole idea hinges on the success ...
— Mary Louise and the Liberty Girls • Edith Van Dyne (AKA L. Frank Baum)

... extraordinary matter in this canvass for some further purpose than anything yet advanced. Judge Douglas did not make his statement upon that occasion as matters that he believed to be true, but he stated them roundly as being true, in such form as to pledge his veracity for their truth. When the whole matter turns out as ...
— Lincoln's Inaugurals, Addresses and Letters (Selections) • Abraham Lincoln

... library, keep the movement well before the public. The necessity of the library, its great value to the community, should be urged by the local press, from the platform, and in personal talk. Include in your canvass all citizens, irrespective of creed, business, or politics; whether educated or illiterate. Enlist the support of teachers, and through them interest children and parents. Literary, art, social, and scientific societies, Chautauqua circles, local clubs of all kinds should ...
— A Library Primer • John Cotton Dana

... to make a clear path. After this, as the hill was very steep on the land side towards the bottom whence we had to fetch water, we cut steps in the hill with axes and shovels; and our sail-maker made a hose or canvass pipe of ninety fathoms long, which carried the water from the top of the hill down to our water cask at its foot towards the sea. We then fell to work, each man having a six gallon keg, in which the water was carried to the top ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume X • Robert Kerr

... while this was in process, the yards began to ascend, and rose with that steady but graduated movement which marks the operation in a man-of-war. All three were fairly mast-headed in two minutes. As the wind struck the canvass obliquely, the sails filled as they opened their folds, and, by the time their surfaces were flattened by distension, the Plantagenet steadily moved from her late berth, advancing slowly against a strong tide, out of the group of ships, among which she had been anchored. This was a beautiful ...
— The Two Admirals • J. Fenimore Cooper

... bit of it, my boy, not a bit of it. We'll make a house-to-house canvass if the police fail us. Cheer ...
— Graustark • George Barr McCutcheon

... it was reported that Reynolds would stand as a candidate for the Borough of Plympton, and all the town was laughing at him, Selwyn remarked that he might very well succeed, "for Sir Joshua is the ablest man I know on a canvass." ...
— George Selwyn: His Letters and His Life • E. S. Roscoe and Helen Clergue

... America in making up this Library, selected only such books as had been proven by a nation-wide canvass to be most universally in demand among the boys themselves. Originally published in more expensive editions only, they are now, under the direction of the Scout's National Council, re-issued at a lower price so that all boys may have the advantage of reading and owning them. ...
— Tom Slade with the Boys Over There • Percy K. Fitzhugh

... campaign of that year, at the request of the State Executive Committee, he canvassed 21 counties in the State for McKinley and Hobart, all of which were carried for the Republican ticket. So pleased was the Committee with the canvass he was making, he was highly commended in letters from the Chairman while ...
— The Journal of Negro History, Volume 5, 1920 • Various

... jewels had been located. There was only one clue to the thief, but it looked promising. The pawnbroker described him as "a crazy Frenchman of an artist," tall, with a pointed black beard. In pawning the jewels he had given the name of Edouard Delaverde, and the city detectives were making a canvass of the better known studios in hope ...
— The Dream Doctor • Arthur B. Reeve

... discussion of the woman question would jeopardize the enfranchisement of the black man. However, we worked untiringly and hopefully, not seeing through the game of the politicians until nearly the end of the canvass, when we saw that our only chance was in getting the Democratic vote. Accordingly, George Francis Train, then a most effective and popular speaker, was invited into the State to see what could be done to win the Democracy. He soon turned ...
— Eighty Years And More; Reminiscences 1815-1897 • Elizabeth Cady Stanton

... a little circle soon gathered, was very severe on the temperance party, which, for two years, had opposed his election, and which, at the last struggle, showed itself to be a rapidly growing organization. During the canvass, a paper was published by this party, in which his personal habits, character, and moral principles were discussed in the freest manner, and certainly not in a way to elevate him in the estimation of men whose opinion was ...
— Ten Nights in a Bar Room • T. S. Arthur

... to mind more freshly than poetic or historic page, song, or speaking canvass, that glorious record which was graven more than two centuries ago by the first exiles from European oppression upon the granite rocks of New England,—"Resistance to tyrants is obedience ...
— Select Speeches of Kossuth • Kossuth

... Douglas' face wore determination, seriousness, force, pugnacity, and endurance. But his hair was grayer than mine; he looked tired. He arose and in that great melodious voice which always thrilled me, he said: "It is now nearly four months since the canvass between Mr. Lincoln and ...
— Children of the Market Place • Edgar Lee Masters

... replied his opponent, fervently, "do I receive it! No one will canvass for this honour now—none envy my danger or labours. Deposit your powers in my hands. Long have I fought with death, and much" (he stretched out his thin hand) "much have I suffered in the struggle. It is not by flying, but by facing the enemy, that we can conquer. If my last combat is now about ...
— The Last Man • Mary Shelley

... attention was immediately attracted by my remaining basket, which I had placed by them. I got up from the table and presented it to her. Her father then told her of my supposed infirmities. I could scarcely help laughing while I heard them canvass my personal appearance, my merits and demerits. Pity, however, seemed to be the predominant feeling. When the dinner was over, I happened to look up at an old clock and saw that it had stopped. I went up to it, and took it from the ...
— Recollections of Old Liverpool • A Nonagenarian

... for the Presidential canvass approached, it was seen that general nominations, combining anything near the number of votes necessary to an election, could not be made without some pretty strong and decided reference to party politics. Accordingly, in the month of May, 1848, the great Democratic ...
— The Life and Public Service of General Zachary Taylor: An Address • Abraham Lincoln

... an artist's dream. It was thus, that Homer appeared to him in his visions of the antique world. Every one, you know, forms an image in his fancy of persons and things he has never seen; and the artist reproduces them in marble or on canvass." ...
— Hyperion • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

... asserts that Campbell's "Ship of the Line" derives all its poetry, not from "art," but from "nature." "Take away the waves, the winds, the sun, &c. &c. one will become a stripe of blue bunting; and the other a piece of coarse canvass on three tall poles." Very true; take away the "waves," "the winds," and there will be no ship at all, not only for poetical, but for any other purpose; and take away "the sun," and we must read Mr. Bowles's ...
— Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 6 (of 6) - With his Letters and Journals • Thomas Moore

... not hear of this struggle with indifference. He at once determined to give Greece the benefit of his co-operation, and the aid of his slender means. He immediately commenced an active canvass amongst his personal friends, in order to form a band of volunteers, who might be efficient, and worthy of the cause on which his ...
— A Love Story • A Bushman

... honored and loved him. He had an unfailing fund of anecdote, was a sharp, witty talker, and possessed an accommodating spirit, which led him to exert himself for the entertainment of his friends. During the political canvass of 1834, Mr. Lincoln made the acquaintance of Mr. John T. Stuart of Springfield, Ill. Mr. Stuart saw in the young man that which, if properly developed, could not fail to confer distinction on him. He therefore ...
— Our American Holidays: Lincoln's Birthday • Various

... sir, there has been no undue canvass for evidence, and the question is simply one of right; and it is our duty to see that this inexperienced young lady ...
— Uncle Silas - A Tale of Bartram-Haugh • J.S. Le Fanu

... vehicle, without running imminent risk of crushing her bonnet; her head can never repose; she has no travelling-cap, like a man, to put on while she stows away her bonnet in some convenient place: the stiffened gauze, or canvass, or paper, of which its inner framework is composed, rustles and crackles with every attempt at compression; and a pound's worth or two of damage may be done by a gentle tap or squeeze. Women, if candid, would allow that their bonnets gave them much more trouble than ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 57, No. 352, February 1845 • Various

... to their meeting. Indeed, she was silent whenever his name was mentioned. On the following day, young Ned Wilson was much chagrined when she declared her intention of returning home. "Why, Miss Bolitho," he said, "you told me you had arranged to canvass Long Street this week, and that will take you at least three days. Yesterday I heard that you had converted at least a dozen people, and we cannot afford to lose you now. It is all over the town, too, that Stepaside is awfully mad at your success. I think ...
— The Day of Judgment • Joseph Hocking

... middle of it, then the Bristle of an Hogg, but the end of it is smaller then the hair of any kind of Animal (as may be seen by the Figure G) the whole belly of it, which is about two or three Inches long, looks to the eye like a thread of course Canvass, that has been newly unwreath'd, it being all wav'd or bended to and fro, much after that manner, but through the Microscope, it appears all perforated from side to side, and Spongie, like a small kind of spongy Coral, which is often found upon the English shores; but ...
— Micrographia • Robert Hooke

... heights of Righi or in the galleries of Florence. The cord which binds together the selfish and the worldly in the quest for pleasure, in the search for gain, in the toil for honors, at a bacchanalian feast, in a Presidential canvass, on a journey to Niagara,—is a rope of sand; a truth which the experienced know, yet which is so bitter to learn. It is profound philosophy, as well as religious experience, which confirms this solemn truth. The soul can repose only on the certitudes ...
— Beacon Lights of History, Volume IV • John Lord

... of a filibustering band! On the instant a friend is found—a patron who promises to make me their leader! Shall I refuse the favour, which fortune herself seems to offer? Why should I? It is fate, not chance; and this night at their meeting I shall know whether it is meant in earnest. So, canvass your best for me, Cris Rock; and I shall do my best to make a suitable speech. If our united efforts prove successful, then Texas shall gain a friend, and Luisa Valverde lose ...
— The Free Lances - A Romance of the Mexican Valley • Mayne Reid

... to-morrow." Then, turning to his Chief of Staff, said, "Give orders for the Dragoons and Light Artillery to pursue for half an hour. The enemy is beaten at all points, and get the Infantry under canvass with as little delay as possible." "The action is over," said the Commander-in-chief, closing his field glass, and with his staff left the ground. And thus, after two days hard fighting, the name of Chillianwalla was added to the list of victories that has been emblazoned on the ...
— Vellenaux - A Novel • Edmund William Forrest

... tongue together fail, What helps old ladies in their tale, And adds fresh canvass to their sail? A pinch ...
— Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce • E. R. Billings

... fortunate have again to fight the battle without assurance of success, the coming election must be matter of dread concern. Oh, how delightful to hear that the long-talked-of rival has declined the contest, and that the course is clear! or to find by a short canvass that one's majority is safe, and the pleasures of crowing over an unlucky, friendless ...
— Doctor Thorne • Anthony Trollope

... Apart from these black arts, and apart from the duke's interest, there was a good force of the staunch and honest type, the life-blood of electioneering and the salvation of party government, who cried stoutly, 'I was born Red, I live Red, and I will die Red.' 'We started on the canvass,' says one who was with Mr. Gladstone, 'at eight in the morning and worked at it for about nine hours, with a great crowd, band and flags, and innumerable glasses of beer and wine all jumbled together; ...
— The Life of William Ewart Gladstone, Vol. 1 (of 3) - 1809-1859 • John Morley

... but as the day was far advanced, we delayed commencing our work till next day. We returned to the tent, and found my wife and her boys picking cotton, with which they made some very comfortable beds, and we slept peacefully under our canvass roof. ...
— The Swiss Family Robinson; or Adventures in a Desert Island • Johann David Wyss

... circular, quite recently published in London, and addressed to the members of a society for the republication of English mediaeval literature, gentlemen are called on by the secretary, even at the risk, as he himself admits, of "boring them, by asking them to canvass for orders, like a bookseller's traveller," to assist in obtaining additional subscribers to the series, and he requests every subscriber "to get another at once." I am happy to say that, without such solicitation on our part, many Irish gentlemen ...
— An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800 • Mary Frances Cusack

... Don't hurry about getting well. I don't need you to canvass, and I guess you enjoy being waited on." He ended with a ...
— Other Main-Travelled Roads • Hamlin Garland

... in in earnest the day after the squire's return to Greenwood, and housed the family for several days. No sooner, however, did the roads become something better than troughs of mud than the would-be Assemblyman set actively to work for his canvass of the county, daily riding forth to make personal calls on the free and enlightened electors, in accordance with the still universal British custom of personal solicitation. What he saw and heard did not tend to improve his temper, ...
— Janice Meredith • Paul Leicester Ford

... career which is most known, is her purchase, by a kiss, of a vote for Fox when she was championing his cause in an election, and canvassing for votes in company with her sister, Lady Duncannon. It was said, "never before had two such lovely portraits appeared on a canvass." A butcher bargained for his vote by asking a kiss from the lovely lips of the seductive Duchess. The price was paid, amid the plaudits of the crowd. An Irish elector, impressed by the fair appellant's vivacity, exclaimed: "I could light my pipe at ...
— Some Old Time Beauties - After Portraits by the English Masters, with Embellishment and Comment • Thomson Willing

... in the afternoon, the Superb and Thames, which had continued to watch the enemy off Cadiz, were seen coming through the Straits under a crowd of canvass, with the signal for an enemy flying; and they had scarcely rounded Cabrita Point before the Spanish squadron, consisting of six sail of the line, were seen in pursuit of them, and soon after anchored in Algeziras with ...
— Memoirs and Correspondence of Admiral Lord de Saumarez, Vol. I • Sir John Ross

... of moving and paying rent. When the Colonel publishes his own candidacy for mayor, he further declares that the Patriot will accept no announcements for municipal offices until after "our" (the editor's) canvass. Adams & Co., grocers, order their $2.25 ad. discontinued and find later in the Patriot this estimate of their product: "No less than three children have been poisoned by eating their canned vegetables, and J. O. Adams, ...
— Rolling Stones • O. Henry

... the mellow tints of the rising sun playing over and investing them with a majesty of outline at once grand and imposing. And yet the massive hull scarce moved, so gentle was the breeze that fanned through her canvass. ...
— The Life and Adventures of Maj. Roger Sherman Potter • "Pheleg Van Trusedale"

... variance to attain ultimately to the helm themselves. The relations between the two men ruling the state had become altered and relaxed, now that Caesar had acquired a standing of preponderant power by the side of Pompeius and had compelled the latter to canvass for a new position of command; it was probable that, if he obtained it, there would arise in one way or other a rupture and struggle between them. If Pompeius remained unsupported in this, his defeat was scarcely doubtful, and the constitutional ...
— The History of Rome (Volumes 1-5) • Theodor Mommsen

... the morning, the bolt rope of the main top-sail broke, and occasioned the sail to be split. I have observed that the ropes to all our sails, the square sails especially, are not of a size and strength sufficient to wear out the canvass. At noon, latitude 55 deg. 20' S., longitude 134 deg. 16' W., a great swell from N.W.: ...
— A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World Volume 2 • James Cook

... smiled with double softness and the whole host of Serenities were doubly serene. In camp, nothing could be more hospitable or distinguished than my reception; for the soldier is always good-humoured under canvass, and the German is good-humoured every where. Perhaps he has rather too high an opinion of his descent from Goth and Vandal, but he makes allowance for the more modern savagery of Europe; and although the stranger may neither wear spectacles, nor smoke cigars, ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 54, No. 338, December 1843 • Various

... influence. They hired halls, opened committee-rooms, made speeches, and thundered against municipal iniquities in the daily press; but Jacob Metzger, when he discovered that this was all, possessed his soul in peace, and even got a good deal of quiet fun out of the canvass. He did not take the trouble to be angry at the men who were denouncing him, and supplied Farnham with beefsteaks unusually tender and juicy, while the young reformer was seeking his ...
— The Bread-winners - A Social Study • John Hay

... amiable, and it has occurred to me that though I can hardly be so blundering as Lippus and the rest of those mistaken candidates for favour whom I have seen ruining their chance by a too elaborate personal canvass, I must still come under the common fatality of mankind and share the liability to be absurd without knowing that I am absurd. It is in the nature of foolish reasoning to seem good to the foolish reasoner. Hence with all possible study of myself, ...
— Impressions of Theophrastus Such • George Eliot

... directory; but as we found forty of the same name, it seemed hopeless. I did happen to know, however, that her father had once been a cutter or tailor; and so out of the forty we selected all the likeliest names and began a general canvass. After five hours of weary search, and after climbing the stairs of more than a score of tenement-houses, without success, we turned at last into East Broadway, footsore and dusty. In this street, on the fifth floor of a baking tenement, ...
— The Long Day - The Story of a New York Working Girl As Told by Herself • Dorothy Richardson

... domain, I think I like this part the best. Is it not beautiful? That clump of dogwood, however, obstructs the view somewhat; I must cut it down. Let us move a little to the right. Ah! there it is! See my lovely river; surely you must admire my swan-like ships, flying, with snowy canvass spread, before the fresh breeze. And see that schooner breaking the little waves into foam. Is that a telescope which the captain of my vessel points toward us? He salutes me, does he not? But I fear the distance is too great; he could hardly recognize me. Still ...
— Gifts of Genius - A Miscellany of Prose and Poetry by American Authors • Various

... 'You are too late, I fear. You will get only my vote.' 'It is your vote especially I want.' 'Are you quite in earnest?' 'Quite.' Balzac quitted me. The election was virtually decided. For political motives. The candidature of Monsieur Vatout had a majority of supporters. I tried to canvass for Balzac, but met with no success. It vexed me to think that a man of Balzac's calibre should have only one vote, and I reflected that if I could obtain a second one, I might create some change of opinion. How was I to gain it? On the election day I was sitting ...
— Balzac • Frederick Lawton

... delicately hour by hour He canvass'd human mysteries, And trod on silk, as if the winds Blew his own praises in his eyes, And stood aloof from other minds ...
— The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson • Tennyson

... marble. You have harmony lying latent in the vast octaves of your being, which if awakened into melody would sooth, comfort, restore, and purify the passions of a world. You have beauty, matchless in forms of grace, which if breathed into marble, or spread in soul colors upon the canvass would adorn the palaces of kings. You have thoughts which if given expression would burn and shine thru countless ages and bear their messages of hope and power to ...
— Supreme Personality • Delmer Eugene Croft

... had reached the limit of his endurance; he could maintain his tutored indifference, but he would not seek to analyze the event anew or to adjust himself to the differentiations of sentiment that Briscoe seemed disposed to expect him to canvass. ...
— The Ordeal - A Mountain Romance of Tennessee • Charles Egbert Craddock

... my manner, yesterday, how much I was surprised and hurt at learning, for the first time, that Lord Grenville had, many days previous to Mr. Fox's death, decided to support Lord Percy on the expected vacancy for Westminster, and that you had since been the active agent in the canvass actually commenced. I do not like to think I have grounds to complain or change my opinion of any friend, without being very explicit, and opening my mind, without reserve, on such a subject. I must frankly declare, that I think you have brought yourself ...
— Memoirs of the Life of Rt. Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan Vol 2 • Thomas Moore

... windward—has retained possession of the stage to the present time; and Mr T. P. Cooke still shuffles, and rolls, and dances, and fights—the beau-ideal and impersonation of the instrument with which Britannia rules the waves. And that the canvass waves of the Surrey are admirably ruled by such instruments, we have no intention of disputing; nor would it be possible to place visibly before the public the peculiar qualifications that constitute a first-rate sailor, any more than those which form a first-rate lawyer. The freaks of ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 56, Number 350, December 1844 • Various

... on too low a plane. After a year or two of rough life, which helped him more than he knew, until long afterward, he went home. Politics he had not yet tried, and politics he was now persuaded to try. He made a brilliant canvass, but another element than oratory had crept in as a new factor in political success. His opponent, Wharton, the wretched little lawyer who had bested him once before, bested him now, and the weight of the last straw fell ...
— Crittenden - A Kentucky Story of Love and War • John Fox, Jr.

... his eye, and he was pointing it towards a sail which was rapidly approaching the shore. So broad and lofty was the canvass, that the hull looked like the small car of a balloon, in comparison to it, as if just gliding over the surface of the blue ...
— The Pirate of the Mediterranean - A Tale of the Sea • W.H.G. Kingston

... predominant. When we consider that the manual worker represents the majority of the electorate of the country, this contingency does not appear to be so very remote, provided that the leaders of Socialism can organize their resources and canvass the working-men on a wide and carefully-planned scale. In this respect the Colne Valley result may very well give them the lead and stimulus they have been waiting for. It must be borne in mind, too, ...
— New Worlds For Old - A Plain Account of Modern Socialism • Herbert George Wells

... Zenobia's last reception for the season; on the morrow she was about to depart for her county, and canvass for her candidates. She was still undaunted, and never more inspiring. The excitement of the times was reflected in her manner. She addressed her arriving guests as they made their obeisance to her, asked for news and imparted it before she could be ...
— Endymion • Benjamin Disraeli

... Mr. Hopkins's first tasks after calling his faithful henchmen around him was to make a careful canvass of the voters of his district, to see what was still to ...
— Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work • Edith Van Dyne

... gerrymandering, which had practically disfranchised many French voters. Already, in 1840, under the active leadership of Neilson of Quebec, a British supporter of French claims, an anti-union movement had been started.[35] In July of the same year La Fontaine visited Toronto, to canvass, said scandal, for the speaker's chair in the united assembly; and in any case he was able to assure his compatriots that they had sympathizers among the British in the West. The Tory paper in Sydenham's new capital, Kingston, in a ...
— British Supremacy & Canadian Self-Government - 1839-1854 • J. L. Morison

... "good company" was less enterprising in its asseverations in this canvass than in ...
— Hume - (English Men of Letters Series) • T.H. Huxley

... from Mr. Tourmaline, the retiring member, whose secession to the Conservative party had demoralized his former friends in the constituency, and filled his old opponents with joy. He was going down the next day to begin his canvass, and to make his first speech; and he had come to the Club to-night for a final consultation with ...
— Name and Fame - A Novel • Adeline Sergeant

... was to so make use of the prevailing ideas of the extremists of the Anti-Slavery party, as to induce them to accept doctrines which would be obnoxious to the great mass of the community, and which would, of course, be used in the political canvass which was to ensue. It was equally important that the "Democrats" should be made to believe that the pamphlet in question emanated from a "Republican" source. The idea was suggested by a discourse delivered by Mr. Theodore Tilton, at ...
— The Humbugs of the World • P. T. Barnum

... political parties of the country stand opposed in serious controversy. Each party claims success for its candidate and insists that he and he alone shall be declared by the two houses of Congress entitled to exercise the executive power of this government for the next four years. The canvass was prolonged and unprecedented in its excitement and even bitterness. The period of advocacy of either candidate has passed, and the time for judgment has almost come. How shall we who purpose to make laws for others do better than to exhibit our own reverence for law and set ...
— The World's Best Orations, Vol. 1 (of 10) • Various

... to Plutarch. That historian, in his Life of the great Roman, tells us of the oak-wreath with which Caius Marcius was crowned, and of the curious kind of dress in which, according to ancient fashion, he had to canvass his electors; and on both of these points he enters into long disquisitions, investigating the origin and meaning of the old customs. Shakespeare, in the spirit of the true artist, accepts the facts of the antiquarian and ...
— Intentions • Oscar Wilde

... moving with each tug that Brutus gave the oars. The ship also was drawing nearer. We could make out the spars under shortened sail, and soon we were hailed from the deck. My father called back, and then there came the snapping of canvass as they put up the helm and the ship lost way tossing ...
— The Unspeakable Gentleman • John P. Marquand

... has standing Posts with a Canvass Top, the Lining is cloth coloured Broad-Cloth; the back is warped by the Sun and cracked; the Leather at the Bottom of the Floor old; large Brass Nails on the Foot Board; the Door of the Box is pricked with Awl-Holes; one of the Staples ...
— The Olden Time Series, Vol. 4: Quaint and Curious Advertisements • Henry M. Brooks

... with me!" he explained. "I must be doing something. I can't canvass for you. I'll have to look round a ...
— An Amiable Charlatan • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... consequence of the long stay at the Hall of the abbe and Father Lascelles. Lady Bygrave did her utmost to maintain her popularity by incessantly driving about and visiting the houses of the better-to-do people and the cottages of the poor, much as she would have done on an electioneering canvass. She was, of course, politely received by all classes; but though she won over some, a large number of people were too sound Protestants to be influenced by her plausible and attractive manners. It would have been happy for poor Clara and her Aunt Sarah, had they been equally on their guard. Miss ...
— Clara Maynard - The True and the False - A Tale of the Times • W.H.G. Kingston

... be pronounced by American lips without the strongest emotion of gratitude and love to every American heart,—when he, that slaveholder, (pointing to a full-length portrait of Washington,) who, from this canvass, smiles upon his children with paternal benignity, came with other slaveholders to drive the British myrmidons from this city, and in this hall our fathers did not refuse to hold communion ...
— Aunt Phillis's Cabin - Or, Southern Life As It Is • Mary H. Eastman

... the expediency of approaching to leeward, and of coming alongside under the open bow-port, letting the sheet fly and brailing the sail, when the boat should be near enough to carry her to the point of destination without further assistance from her canvass. ...
— Jack Tier or The Florida Reef • James Fenimore Cooper

... the fowl is to the kitchen what the canvass is to painters. To charlatans it is the cap of Fortunatus, and is served up boiled, roasted, fried, hot, cold, whole or dismembered, with or without sauce, broiled, stuffed, and always with ...
— The Physiology of Taste • Brillat Savarin

... SHIPS OF WAR, innumerable merchant-vessels, and splendid pleasure-yachts, safely lying at anchor or gaily sailing about in every direction; and what moving object in the world can surpass, in grandeur, beauty, and interest, a fine ship under full canvass with a light breeze? Let the reader only imagine how glorious a sight it must have been, when 200 sail,—line-of-battle-ships, frigates, and large merchantmen under convoy, would weigh anchor at the same time, and proceeding on their voyage, pass round the island as ...
— Brannon's Picture of The Isle of Wight • George Brannon

... days of "vote and interest" the canvass was regarded as a much more certain criterion than to-day. Thus in 1796 a Hertfordshire candidate issued an address in which he candidly stated, "After a success upon my first Day's Canvass equal to my most sanguine Expectations, I had determined to stand the Poll, but finding myself ...
— Fragments of Two Centuries - Glimpses of Country Life when George III. was King • Alfred Kingston

... said Lord Kilkee, "the better plan is to let him visit the conservatory, for I'd wager a fifty he finds it more difficult to invent botany, than canvass ...
— The Confessions of Harry Lorrequer, Vol. 1 • Charles James Lever

... all, their roast not being yet in a state that permitted them to leave it. At last the sergeant began to call the names, which were answered to alternately from the ranks or from some neighbouring fire, and once a sleepy "here!" proceeding from under the canvass of a tent, caused a hearty laugh amongst the men, and made the sergeant look sulky, although he passed it over as if it were no unusual occurrence. When all the names had been called, he had no occasion to dismiss his men, for each of them, after answering, ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 363, January, 1846 • Various

... to have been issued in the spring, but during his wanderings proofs had been delayed, and there was now considerable anxiety about it, as the agencies had become impatient for the canvass. At the end of April Clemens wrote: "Your printers are doing well. I will hurry the proofs"; but it was not until the early part of June that the last chapters were revised and returned. Then the big book, at last ...
— Mark Twain, A Biography, 1835-1910, Complete - The Personal And Literary Life Of Samuel Langhorne Clemens • Albert Bigelow Paine

... on the occasion.[47] We cannot but imagine that the winds which Curio was called upon to govern were the tornadoes and squalls which were to be made to rage in the streets of Rome to the great discomfiture of Milo's enemies during his canvass. To such a state had Rome come, that for the first six months of this year there were no Consuls, an election being found to be impossible. Milo had been the great opponent of Clodius in the city rows which ...
— The Life of Cicero - Volume II. • Anthony Trollope

... addition to the house of Spruggins at no remote period), increased the general prepossession in his favour. The other candidates, Bung alone excepted, resigned in despair. The day of election was fixed; and the canvass proceeded with briskness ...
— Sketches by Boz - illustrative of everyday life and every-day people • Charles Dickens

... his canvass, and the commotions consequent upon it, he found that Mr. Ruddles was right. No other subject seemed at the moment to have any attraction in Tankerville. Mr. Browborough, whose life had not been passed in any strict obedience to the Ten Commandments, ...
— Phineas Redux • Anthony Trollope

... in the next morning, we received letters from Elmsley. Edward's to me was kind and affectionate, but short and hurried. He had written a long one to my uncle, full of all the details connected with his canvass, which promised to be very successful. One phrase in this letter particularly attracted my attention:—"Henry's exertions in my behalf, and anxiety for my success, are beyond what I could have expected even in the early days of our friendship. He is most amiable ...
— Ellen Middleton—A Tale • Georgiana Fullerton

... "profession" was to purchase—and sell—the cast-off apparel of ladies of fashion; and few of the sisterhood have carried the art of double cheating to so great a proficiency. With always a roll of bank-notes in her old leather pocket-book, and always a dirty canvass bag full of bright sovereigns in her pocket, she had ever the subtle temptation ...
— The Wedding Guest • T.S. Arthur

... harbour of Severndroog, where Angria's fleet lay at anchor; but they no sooner received intelligence of his approach, than they slipped their cables and stood out to sea. He chased them with all the canvass he could carry, but their vessels being lighter than his they escaped; and he returned to Severndroog, which is a fortress situated on an island within musket shot of the main land, strongly but irregularly ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. - From William and Mary to George II. • Tobias Smollett

... from the World's Convention for the employment of all his added effectiveness for continuing the moral movement against slavery. For what with the strife and schism in the anti-slavery ranks, followed by the excitements of the long Presidential canvass of 1840, wherein the great body of the Abolitionists developed an uncontrollable impulse to political action, some through the medium of the new Liberty party which had nominated James G. Birney for the Presidency, ...
— William Lloyd Garrison - The Abolitionist • Archibald H. Grimke

... leave he once more impressed on Louie the nature of his call. "Now, Mr. Seigerman," said Baughman, using the German language during the parting conversation, "let me have your answer at the earliest possible moment, for we want to begin an active canvass at once. This is a large county, and to enlist our friends in your behalf no time should be lost." With a profusion of "Leben Sie wohls" and well wishes for each other, ...
— Cattle Brands - A Collection of Western Camp-fire Stories • Andy Adams

... would not be at all a 'king' in the City. There would be no mischievous prestige about the office; there would be no attraction in it for a vain man; and there would be nothing to make it an object of a violent canvass or of unscrupulous electioneering. The office would be essentially subordinate in its character, just like the permanent secretary in a political office. The pay should be high, for good ability ...
— Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market • Walter Bagehot

... charge. I did not make any contribution to any one for any purpose, and I did not receive financial aid from any source. The subject was never mentioned to me or by me in conversation or correspondence with any one. Again, I may say the subject was not mentioned in my canvass for the office of Governor in the years ...
— Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs, Vol. 2 • George S. Boutwell

... two lovers, who had evidently been strolling together, sat down side by side under a natural trellis of vines. The twilight hour of midsummer will lend enchantment to almost any scene; but this is peculiarly the case in Italy, where every shadow seems poetic-every view fit for the painter's canvass. ...
— The Duke's Prize - A Story of Art and Heart in Florence • Maturin Murray

... himself. No daily paper, with its fresh material for thought and discussion, comes to enliven the long blank evenings by the tent fire; no wars or rumours of wars, no coup d'etat of diplomacy, no excitement of political canvass ever agitates the stagnant intellectual atmosphere of Korak existence. Removed to an infinite distance, both physically and intellectually, from all of the interests, ambitions, and excitements which make up our world, the Korak simply exists, like a human oyster, in the quiet waters of his ...
— Tent Life in Siberia • George Kennan

... immorality at the very time that we are discussing (with equivocal German Professors) whether morality is valid at all. At the very instant that we curse the Penny Dreadful for encouraging thefts upon property, we canvass the proposition that all property is theft. At the very instant we accuse it (quite unjustly) of lubricity and indecency, we are cheerfully reading philosophies which glory in lubricity and indecency. At the very instant that we charge it with encouraging the young to destroy life, we are placidly ...
— The Defendant • G.K. Chesterton

... her, she knew a great deal of many of them. In their talks over the Stone Parlour fire she and Wharton had gone through most of the properties, large and small, of his division, and indeed of the divisions round, by the help of the knowledge he had gained in his canvass, together with a blue-book—one of the numberless!—recently issued, on the state of the midland labourer. He had abounded in anecdote, sarcasm, reflection, based partly on his own experiences, partly ...
— Marcella • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... unfriendly to the king's person and government, and might probably be far better disposed toward them. She easily brought the king to adopt her views, and exerted the whole of her influence to secure the passing of the decree, sending agents to canvass those deputies who were opposed to it. With the Royalist members, the Extreme Right, her voice was law, and, by the unnatural union of them and the Jacobins, the resolution ...
— The Life of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France • Charles Duke Yonge

... In 1830 he travelled in Germany, and had his interview at Weimar with Goethe; and from 1831 we find him settled in a London pleader's office, reading law with temporary assiduity, frequenting the theatres and Caves of Harmony, making many literary acquaintances, taking runs into the country to canvass for Charles Buller, and trying his 'prentice hand at journalism. His vocation for literature speedily damped his legal ardour, and drew him out of Mr. Tapsell's chambers, where he left a desk full of sketches and caricatures. In May 1832 he wrote: 'This lawyer's preparatory education ...
— Studies in Literature and History • Sir Alfred Comyn Lyall

... Charleston, only five miles from Malden, my home. At the close of my school year in Washington I was very pleasantly surprised to receive, from a committee of three white people in Charleston, an invitation to canvass the state in the interests of that city. This invitation I accepted, and spent nearly three months in speaking in various parts of the state. Charleston was successful in winning the prize, and is now the permanent seat ...
— Up From Slavery: An Autobiography • Booker T. Washington

... laugh at, and others you don't. These that I mean are the kind you don't. Now, Mrs. Marx, the woman that keeps this place, is all right in her way, but it ain't no swell place at that. Her lodgers are mostly fellows that canvass for different kinds of things; they wear shiny coats and their shoes are mostly run down at the heels. So when I see swell business looking guys coming here I got to wondering who they were. That's only ...
— Ashton-Kirk, Investigator • John T. McIntyre

... Chamberlain, would have received less votes than Major Burnaby, who was the highest of the two Conservative candidates. In order to obtain the full advantage of their numerical superiority it was necessary for the Liberal organization to make an extensive canvass of their supporters, to ascertain as accurately as possible their strength, and to issue precise instructions to the voters in each district as to the manner in which they should record their votes. The memorable cry associated with these elections—"Vote ...
— Proportional Representation - A Study in Methods of Election • John H. Humphreys

... to some considerable extent ever since the memorable battle of the Thames. Its discussion has not been confined to the immediate friends of the several aspirants for the honor of having slain this distinguished warrior; it has enlivened the political canvass, and the halls of legislation; occupied the columns of journals and magazines, and filled no inconsiderable space on the pages of American and British histories. Under such circumstances, and as directly connected with the ...
— Life of Tecumseh, and of His Brother the Prophet - With a Historical Sketch of the Shawanoe Indians • Benjamin Drake

... Splendour, Squalor, Shame, Disease; Its quicquid agunt Homines;— Nor yet omitted to pourtray Furens quid possit Foemina;— In short, held up to ev'ry Class NATURE'S unflatt'ring looking-Glass; And, from his Canvass, spoke to All ...
— Collected Poems - In Two Volumes, Vol. II • Austin Dobson

... broken, scarcely able to find his feeble way on his shrunken legs through the snow; but, with the instinct of gossip, the sharp nose for his neighbors' affairs, still alert in him, he had arisen at dawn to canvass the village, and had come thither at first, since he anticipated that he might possibly have the delight of bringing the intelligence before any of the family had heard it elsewhere. He came in, dragging his old, snow-laden ...
— Madelon - A Novel • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

... zealous—the example of desertion is contagious. In the town which Templeton had formerly represented, and which he now almost commanded, a vacancy suddenly occurred—a candidate started on the opposition side and commenced a canvass; to the astonishment and panic of the Secretary of the Treasury, Templeton put forward no one, and his interest remained dormant. ...
— Ernest Maltravers, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... I smiled to myself at the sight of this money: "O drug!" said I aloud, &c. 'However, upon second thoughts, I took it away'; and wrapping all this in a piece of canvass, &c. ...
— Literary Remains (1) • Coleridge

... J. Tilden, of New York. The result of the election became the subject of acrimonious dispute. Each party charged fraud upon the other, and both parties claimed to have carried the States of Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida. To avoid a deadlock, which might have happened if the canvass of the electoral votes had been left to the two Houses of Congress (the Senate having a Republican and the House of Representatives a Democratic majority), an act, advocated by members of both parties, was passed to refer all contested cases ...
— Messages and Papers of Rutherford B. Hayes - A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents • James D. Richardson

... carrying and loading the guano into the ships. When a vessel is ready to take in cargo, she is moored alongside of the rocks almost mast head high, from the top of which the guano is sent down through a canvass shute directly into the hold of the ship. Thus several hundred tons can be put on board in a day. The trimming of the cargo is a very unpleasant part of the labor. The dust and odor is almost overpowering; so ...
— Guano - A Treatise of Practical Information for Farmers • Solon Robinson



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