_Canvass_ > "examine, pore over, search"

[Joel S. Berson]

Are these all (or most) linked with searching for
something specific that the canvasser has in mind and is looking for?

As for no interviewees in the forest, I thought
that was true only of the howling wilderness, or
perhaps the desert of the Forest of Arden.

Joel

At 4/18/2014 05:52 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole wrote:
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
>
>For me the word canvass is associated with interviewing people to
>gather data. I searched for some other examples that do not seem to
>involve interviewing people.
>
>Book: The Poet: Book One in the Forest of Fontainebleau Series
>Page: 137
>Year: 2013
>(Google Books Preview)
>books.google.com/books?isbn=1475960573
>[Begin excerpt]
>The two of them went off to canvass the forest, looking for yarrow,
>which Arcenciel described as a useful plant capable of relieving
>everything from headaches to digestive ailments,...
>[End excerpt]
>
>Book: The Egg of Shi-Low
>Author: Robert M. Urban
>Page 161
>Year: 2009 copyright
>(Google Books Preview)
>books.google.com/books?isbn=1609575458
>[Begin excerpt]
>His eyes again begin to canvass the area around him. There off in the
>distance he spots a log. It might work but he can't tell from this
>distance. He begins to inch his way over to what he has seen being
>careful not to agitate his wounds.
>[End excerpt]
>
>Book: Good Roots: Writers Reflect on Growing Up in Ohio
>Author: Lisa Watts
>Year: 2007
>(Google Books Preview)
>books.google.com/books?isbn=0821417282
>[Begin excerpt]
>She's not sure precisely where it is, so we must canvass the area;
>from a high point, I scan the forest with my binoculars, looking for
>some pattern of light and shadow, or the pale hint of grass in
>sunlight. Patterns: I think one must always look for ...
>[End excerpt]
>
>One search phrase I used was "canvass the forest" because I thought
>that there would probably be few interviewees in a forest. Here are
>some of the matches, but I am not sure how to interpret them. They do
>not seem to fit the OED defintions:
>
>Report of the Chief - Forest Service - Page 42
>books.google.com/books?id=lunPAAAAMAAJ
>United States. Forest Service - 1887 - ‎Read - ‎More editions
>In the absence of means to employ such men the Division has not
>undertaken any statistical work, except to canvass the forest
>conditions of Tennessee, the State from which one of the "forestry
>agents" was appointed. The directions in which ...
>
>Forestry Publications - Volume 20 - Page 88
>books.google.com/books?id=ylJEAAAAYAAJ
>1909 - ‎Read - ‎More editions
>THIRD PERIOD, 1870—1910.- "INFANCY OF FOREST POLICY." 1870 First
>attempt to canvass the forest resources of the U. S. by Prof. F. W.
>Brewer (ninth census). 1873 First publication on forest policy by Dr.
>J. A. Warder, and by G. P. Marsh, ...
>
>Annals of Bee Culture for 1872: A Bee-keeper's Year-book ... - Page 39
>books.google.com/books?id=DhApAAAAYAAJ
>D. L. Adair - 1872 - ‎Read - ‎More editions
>... cut away, and where they can assume their natural round bushy
>head. Well, we have studied the subject so far as to thoroughly
>canvass the forest for two miles around, and find that our ten and a
>half acres will contain more trees than ...
>
>Garson
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org