_Canvass_ > "examine, pore over, search"

[Dan Goncharoff]

There is an older meaning of canvass that means to search or scrutinize.
Back in the 19th century, it was the first meaning. Check the 1828
Webster's.

DanG


On Tue, Apr 15, 2014 at 8:57 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: _Canvass_ > "examine, pore over, search"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Tue, Apr 15, 2014 at 8:12 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
> > "canvass the area"
>
>
> That's a clip of "canvass, i.e. "interview," the [residents of] the area
> [to see what, if anything, they know about the crime]." Since deserts are
> called "deserts" because they're deserted, I can't wrap my mind around the
> concept of "canvassing" a desert to see what, if anything, it knows about
> the  location of the body of a murder victim or for anything else that it
> may know. Others may not have this problem.
>
> Youneverknow.
>
> --
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org